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Why an antique dealer started a sake brewery: his recovery from a stroke and his 20-year dream of making sake.
on May 03 2026
At our brewery, we also operate an antique art dealership alongside sake brewing.
Or rather, to be precise, it might be more accurate to say that the shop, which originally operated as an antique art dealership, gradually transformed into a sake brewery.
Antiques and sake. Two seemingly distant worlds, coexisting within a single brewery. Why?
Today, I'd like to write about the circumstances behind this and the dream that came true after 20 years.
Why an Antique Art Dealer Started a Sake Brewery
Ever since I was a child, I've loved making things, and until I was about 30, I was involved in machine repair work.
The satisfaction of fixing a machine that was deemed beyond repair, the感動—the moment when parts mesh and start moving—I can still vividly recall that feeling of accomplishment.
However, at the age of 31, I suffered a cerebral infarction due to many years of demanding work.
My colleagues were surprised, as I was still young, but as a result, it became difficult for me to continue working as a craftsman, and I decided to leave the company.
Until Settling on an Antique Dealer
From there, after a series of twists and turns, I ventured into the sales business.
I started small as an online used bookstore, and as the range of items I handled gradually expanded, I eventually settled as an antique dealer.
My main work is the buying and selling of antiques such as tea ceremony utensils and hanging scrolls.
The interesting thing about being an antique dealer is that you encounter something different every day.
When I acquire a favorite piece from the Edo period (makie lacquerware), Meiji period (Kutani ware), or the handiwork of an unknown craftsman, I sometimes gaze at it for a while, completely captivated.
However, as it's a business, I have to sell it.
Even items I want to keep must be sent to their next owner. That is the fate of an antique art dealer.
However, things have changed a bit since I started brewing sake. I want to drink the sake I make from vessels I approve of.
Such a desire began to sprout, and little by little, I started keeping sake vessels for myself.
Antiques and sake, these two professions, for the first time, connected within me.
The Turning Point: "I Want to Be a Craftsman Again"
About 20 years after the onset, the desire to "work as a craftsman again" suddenly welled up within me.
My paralysis had become much lighter, and my hands, though not as before, could move to a certain extent.
My first thought was repairing film cameras.
Then came leather product manufacturing. Both are manual labor, not areas I dislike. Although I tried them, old cameras were constantly diminishing, and I couldn't design leather products, so neither felt quite right.
Something was off. I couldn't quite articulate what it was, but I couldn't fully immerse myself in either.
While I was still experimenting, a life-changing event occurred.
Suddenly, I Could No Longer Drink Alcohol
Up until then, I was the typical heavy drinker who never missed a nightcap and drank excessively when I did.
Sake, shochu, beer, wine – you name it, I drank it.
However, one day, I suddenly couldn't even drink half a glass of draft beer.
The Test Results: "Perfectly Healthy"
Naturally, I was worried that something was wrong with my body, so I had a detailed examination at the hospital.
However, the results were a surprising "There's absolutely nothing wrong, you're perfectly healthy."
Liver function was fine, internal organs were normal. But I just couldn't drink alcohol.
Out of a drinker's pride, I thought, "I can't possibly not drink, it'll get better eventually," and I continued to drink small amounts every day, but instead of improving, it only got worse.
Finally, I gave up and haven't had a drink for five years now.
I was anxious that it might be a symptom that modern medicine couldn't explain, but during that time, I've been perfectly healthy, not even catching a cold.
It's a truly mysterious constitution.
I Can't Drink. But I Want to Be Involved with Alcohol.
And then, Obtaining a Liquor Sales License
Even though I can no longer drink, my affection for alcohol, with which I've spent so many years, has not faded.
On the contrary, the desire to "continue to be involved in the culture of alcohol, even if I can't drink it myself" grew stronger, and as a first step, I obtained a liquor sales license.
Antique dealer and liquor sales. This might already seem like an unusual combination, but from here, the story takes an even more unexpected turn.
Actually, a Desire to Brew Sake I've Cherished Since My Twenties
Rewinding the clock to my late twenties.
I stumbled upon a book at a bookstore. It was one in a series called "How to Play on Sunday," and its title was "Making Sake."
Flipping through the pages, I found detailed instructions on how to make doburoku (unrefined sake), including where to acquire the necessary equipment and ingredients.
"Is it really okay to write this much detail?" I wondered, surprised as I read on, until I came across this passage:
Brewing sake without a license is a violation of the Liquor Tax Act and carries a penalty of a fine of up to 1 million yen or imprisonment.
However, I recall it saying that even if you get caught, it's not a big deal.
Being young, I didn't think too deeply about it and closed the book with a casual "Oh, really?"
Nevertheless, my interest in sake brewing remained in a corner of my mind, and I always harbored the desire to try it someday.
Why the Dream Ended in Fantasy
However, when it came to actually trying to make it, the hurdles were too high at the time.
- I couldn't get my hands on a temperature control device for cultivating koji.
- I didn't know the supply routes for specialized sake rice or koji mold.
- I didn't have the resolve or time to apprentice at a sake brewery.
Although there was a sake brewery nearby, the option of working there was not realistic, and in the end, the dream of illegal brewing ended as a mere fantasy.
And 20 Years Later, Fantasy Becomes Reality
About 20 years passed since then. After experiencing a cerebral infarction, quitting my craft, becoming an antique dealer, being unable to drink, and obtaining a liquor sales license—after all these detours in life—finally, making sake in my own brewery became a reality.
The book about making doburoku I saw in a bookstore when I was in my twenties.
That dream, which had ended in fantasy, returned to me from a completely different angle 20 years later.
The aesthetic sense cultivated as an antique dealer, the manual dexterity refined through machine repair, and the clear, pure sake I sought to create precisely because my body could no longer drink—all of my past experiences are now utilized in my work as a brewery owner.
People often say that nothing in life is wasted, and that might truly be the case.
Without the major setback of a cerebral infarction, I would not have become an antique dealer, and if I hadn't suddenly lost the ability to drink, the obsession with sake brewing would not have been born.
Every event has led to this brewery today.
Summary: A Brewery Supported by Two Professions, Antiques and Sake
An antique dealer and a sake brewery. While these two worlds may seem distant, to me, they are two branches extending from the same root.
The discerning eye for the value of things loved for a long time, the joy of creating something with my own hands.
Both are things I have cherished.
Sake made by a proprietor who cannot drink it. A brewery where a dream that should have ended in fantasy came true after 20 years.
I will continue to write gradually about the daily life of the brewery, the behind-the-scenes of brewing, and its connection to antiques. Please stay with me.
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