Singing, Tasting, and Living the Kurabito Life in Gujo with Hiraku Ogura

Sounds of Sake

Have you ever wanted to experience the life of a sake maker, known as kurabito?

This one-day tour in the picturesque mountains of Gujo, Gifu Prefecture is a deep dive into folk ways, fermentation, natural farming and rural Japanese culture.

Guided by Kazuyo Fukao, the only sake maker in Gifu brewing with traditional wooden barrels, this tour explores the natural farming agricultural methods, fermentation processes and local musical traditions that inform her sake making.

Fermentation designer Hiraku Ogura will be joining for the sake brewery tour section.

A Journey Through History, Song, and Sake:

- Sing while you work: Take part in rice paddy weeding while learning traditional work songs once sung by farmers. This hands-on activity blends timeless traditions with modern techniques.

- Honor the sake: Learn celebration songs with local folk singers in an engaging two-hour session. Then, perform in front of wooden sake barrels just as Kazuyo does each year to bless the brewing process.

Savor Mountain Food, Old and New

- Enjoy lunch in an old Japanese farmhouse featuring Gujo’s traditional food specialties, with a focus on fermented foods that celebrate the region’s flavors.

- Lunch will be provided by the Takimata-kai, a local group dedicated to preserving traditional agricultural and cooking methods. The meal features dishes like farmers used to eat every day. Lunch will include non-pesticide rice cooked the old-fashioned way—over the fire, and eaten over fragrant magnolia leaf, an early Summer specialty.

The main dish will be a miso stew featuring summer vegetables and miso made in Gujo of local soybeans.

- Savor different types of local sake. Pairings and tasting notes will be provided by sake maker Kazuyo Fukao. For drinkers and non-drinkers alike, enjoy lots of local tea and soft drinks made from local ingredients.

- Explore the process of UNESCO heritage-listed sake fermentation, along with the culture and history that surround it.

Fermentation designer Hiraku Ogura will be joining for the sake brewery tour section and will provide special insights into fermentation and sake.

Tour Details

Tour Details

Dates: July 6

Cost of Tour Package: 50,000 yen

Includes:

1. Chartered bus from Nagoya

2. Interpretation and commentary throughout the tour by a Japanese culture scholar and food expert

3. Full guided tour and tasting notes with a sake brewer

4. Lunch featuring the chance to experience early summer specialities including fragrant magnolia leaf rice

5. Rice paddy wading boots, traditional hat rental

6. Lots of sake!

Pickup/Drop-off: Nagoya Station

Schedule:

- 8:30 AM: Departure from Nagoya　-　Visit Myoken Shrine (Hirano sake brewery's guardian shrine) 　-　 Rice paddy weeding experience with Gujo folk singing) 　-　 Enjoy a lunch filled with Gujo specialties 　-　sake tasting and tasting commentary provided by sake maker 　-　lots of nonalcoholic local drinks including teas and soft drinks 　-　sake brewery tour and explanation　- 5:05 PM: Return to Nagoya

Items to bring: Clothes you can get dirty in, small towel, drink

Shoes for wading in the rice paddy and traditional farming hats will be provided. Please tell us your shoe size when you book.

We apologize but we are unable to provide specialized food for those with allergies.

Tour contents and timing may differ slightly based on various circumstances including the weather.

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Kazuyo Fukao (Sake maker and local festival singer)

Role: Guide

I moved to the Gujo region four years ago, to try my hand at sake brewing. I spend my days working as a brewer and learning the traditional work and celebration songs and poetry of the region. Inspired by a wood barrel brewed sake made the traditional way, I wanted to learn how to make sake just as people had done before the advent of stainless-steel tanks. After travelling to Shodo island to learn how to repair the wooden barrels, with the help of Hiroshi Tajiri, the only boatwright remaining in Gifu Prefecture, I fixed the barrel that had been laying dormant for more than seventy years at Hirano brewery. That's the barrel now used for the Fudo sake. Now I am apprenticing with Tajiri to learn how to make the wooden barrels from scratch, starting with cutting down the bamboo used as the ties for the cedar planks.

Traditionally women were barred from making sake, and even today women sake brewers are rare. Taking that taboo as a starting point, my goal is to make sake informed by traditional techniques that can only be made in the here and now. By researching the history of the region and of sake brewing, the connection between sound and sake as well as fermentation culture, I aim to make sake that can only come forth from Gujo.

Katherine Whatley (scholar, musician, Japanese food and sake aficionado!)

Role: Interpreter and Commentator

I'm a scholar of medieval Japanese literature and music and have worked extensively in Gujo, Japan. I love the local folk dancing and singing and have trained with traditional folk musicians in the region. In addition, I have worked with Kazuyo on a bilingual edition of sake poetry as well as on sake events both within Japan and in the US and Europe.

I am also a journalist and have written, translated or consulted on Japanese culture, food, tourism and more for a wide range of publications including: BBC, New York Times, NPR, CNN, Dwell, Conde Nast, Japan Times, Artsy, Hyperallergic, and others.