Kijo Town, Miyazaki(宮崎県児湯郡木城町) The sea breeze from the Hyūga-nada Sea, the sacred and beautiful forests of the Osuzu Mountains, the clear underground spring water, and the vast, open blue sky. The starting point of our shochu-making lies in expressing, through a single bottle of distilled spirit, the rich blessings of this nature—together with the deep sense of gratitude that the local people have held as they have diligently protected their traditions of agriculture and forestry here in Kijo Town. Osuzuyama Distillery(尾鈴山蒸留所)— The Ultimate Embodiment of Kuroki Honten(黒木本店)’s 140-Year Philosophy Kuroki Honten(黒木本店) has walked alongside this land through the culture of authentic shochu, with representative products such as the barley shochus Hyakunen no Kodoku(百年の孤独) and Nakanaka(中々), as well as the sweet potato shochus Kiroku(㐂六) and Q(球). We do not consider ourselves merely craftsmen who make shochu. We believe it is our mission to protect shochu as a traditional culture rooted in this land and pass it on to the next generation. Under this belief, we till the soil, plant the seeds, harvest the crops, and brew the shochu with our own hands. Osuzuyama Distillery is a special, haute couture-style distillery, made possible precisely because of its small scale, where every step is carried out with soul and by hand, down to the finest detail. To us, making shochu is the condensed expression of the nature and culture of this land. We are passionate about preserving it, and sharing it with people in Japan and around the world. Through Shochu—Connecting with the Land, Meeting People, and Engaging with the Region’s Future All revenue from secondary sales of this NFT project will be donated to the Green Fund, which supports greening efforts and forest maintenance. By harnessing the power of digital technology like NFTs, we hope to deliver the memories and landscape of this region to the future. We truly look forward to meeting you.

Osuzuyama Distillery was established in 1998 by Kuroki Honten(黒木本店), a shochu brewery with 140 years of history in Takanabe, Miyazaki Prefecture. It is an haute couture-style micro-distillery, created with the aim of achieving the ultimate in distilled spirits. Founded in 1885, Kuroki Honten has long upheld the unwavering philosophy of “shochu-making in harmony with the region’s natural environment.” Osuzuyama Distillery was born as the embodiment of that philosophy and the culmination of its technical craftsmanship, with the goal of pursuing the purest expression of Japanese distilled spirits. Osuzuyama Distillery stands quietly in the deep mountains of the Osuzu mountain range, surrounded by untouched nature. It overlooks Atarashiki Mura (“The New Village”), a settlement founded by the writer Saneatsu Mushanokōji, who opened up the land and lived there for six years, engaging in both farming and writing in pursuit of a life where one “lives true to oneself” and “makes the most of one’s individuality.” Due to its extremely small scale and remote location far from human settlements, the distillery has not been open to the public except on very rare occasions. At this special distillery, surrounded by the chirping of small birds and the murmuring of clear mountain streams, people and nature come together as one in the spirit-making process. It is here that we bring to life distilled spirits that are “made only here, and never made anywhere else.”

There are many well-known distilled spirits in the world, such as whisky and other types of spirits, but we believe that honkaku shochu—a uniquely Japanese and natural distilled spirit made using traditional koji—is also a work of art that deserves to be more widely recognized around the world. At our distillery, based on over 140 years of techniques and philosophy in shochu-making, Although in small quantities, we are also honored to produce whisky and other spirits—recognized as a global common language—drawing upon our 140 years of expertise and philosophy in shochu-making. At the foundation of our spirit-making at Osuzuyama Distillery lies an unwavering belief: “Sake is agriculture.” As a way to put this belief into practice, we established an agricultural production organization called Yomigaeru Daichi no Kai in 2004, and began cultivating our ingredients without the use of pesticides or chemical fertilizers. We have also made significant investments in natural composting facilities that return by-products from the shochu-making process back into the fields. In this way, we have built a system of sustainable spirit-making, in which nature and human activity are connected in a circular and harmonious relationship.