Is it “kura”, or is it “gura?”

It’s both! On week’s episode of On Your Own Terms, regular host Justin Potts sits down with Chris Hughes to examine a rather pervasive term in and around the world of sake: kura, the Japanese word that encompasses storehouse, brewery, factory, and nowadays, a whole lot more. Sake breweries are often called sakagura in Japanese, with their modern facilities are often built around an older kura that can be 100s of years old. (Note: the “gura” spelling represents the inflection that occurs when attached to a preceding word, hence, “saka-gura”, as opposed to, “saka-kura”.)

The Japan Sake & Shochu Makers Association (JSS) has an excellent resource that lists all of the sake breweries throughout Japan that offer kura tours. There are also many companies that offer brewery tours as part of their personalized services, including our very own Sebastien Lemoine’s Passerelle.

Have you visited a sakagura before? Do you have plans to go? If so, share your experiences or let us know at @sakeonair on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, or send us a message to [email protected].

We’ll be back with more Sake On Air – On Your Own Terms, in just a few days.
Until then, kampai!

Sake On Air is made possible with the generous support of the Japan Sake & Shochu Makers Association and is recorded and broadcast from the Japan Sake & Shochu Information Center in Tokyo. The show is brought to you by Potts.K Productions with audio production by Frank Walter. Our theme, “Younger Today Than Tomorrow” was composed by forSomethingNew for Sake On Air.