高木酒造Takagi Shuzo

The name Juyondai exists because of a patent examiner. When Akitsuna Takagi tried to register trademark names for new sake in the early 1990s, the examiners rejected "Twelfth Generation," "Thirteenth Generation," and "Fourteenth Generation" one by one, on the grounds that numerals made unsuitable brand names. One examiner approved the last. Fourteenth Generation — Juyondai — survived by chance. They kept it.

Takagi Shuzo has been in Murayama City, Yamagata, since 1615. The family's roots are said to trace to the Kyoto imperial court; after the Onin War devastated the capital, ancestors fled north and settled in the Dewa mountains, turning to brewing. For the next three and a half centuries, the brewery made a local label called Asahitaka, largely unknown outside Yamagata. Akitsuna Takagi, heir to the fifteenth generation, returned at 25 after studying fermentation science at Tokyo University of Agriculture and began brewing under his father in the early 1990s.

In 1995 he released Juyondai. The sake was fruit-forward, full-bodied, subtly sweet with umami that stayed. In a market then ruled by the dry, austere Niigata style, it was a different register entirely. Breweries across Japan spent the following decade trying to replicate it, producing what critics eventually named the Yamagata school. Today bottles of Juyondai trade at multiples of retail price on the secondary market. The brewery still distributes through a small number of authorized retailers. Scarcity was never the strategy; it is simply what happens when demand outstrips a deliberately small production.

The water comes from Sakura Shimizu, a well 25 meters deep fed by the Hayama range of the Dewa Sanzan mountains. Over eighteen years Takagi also developed three proprietary rice varieties suited to Yamagata's climate, including Sake Mirai, a cross between Yamada Nishiki and Miyama Nishiki. Gold medals at the National New Sake Appraisal Competition have come consistently since 2003. In 2023 Akitsuna assumed the traditional family title Tatsugoro upon succeeding his father, and continues to oversee brewing as both owner and toji.

Key facts

• Founded 1615 in Murayama City, Yamagata Prefecture; the family traces its lineage to the Kyoto court before the Onin War dispersed them north
• Water source: deep well (25 m) fed by the Hayama range of the Dewa Sanzan mountains, known locally as Sakura Shimizu
• 15th-generation heir Akitsuna Takagi (now named Tatsugoro) returned at age 25 in the early 1990s and became both owner and toji
• Flagship brand Juyondai (十四代), launched 1995 — the name survived trademark examination by chance when competing numerals were rejected
• Juyondai pioneered a fruity, umami-forward premium style that defined what became known as the "Yamagata school" of sake
• Proprietary rice variety Sake Mirai, developed over 18 years by crossing Yamada Nishiki and Miyama Nishiki, tailored to the local climate
• Gold medals at Japan's National New Sake Appraisal Competition consistently since 2003 (17 recorded through 2025)