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Sawanoi
— a 300-year-old riverside sake brewery
Tokyo's oldest sake brewery, founded in 1702 on the Tama River, with an open riverside garden where you taste its Sawanoi sake beside the water.
Ozawa Shuzo has brewed its Sawanoi label on the Tama River in the Sawai district of Ome for more than three centuries — documented as the oldest sake brewery in the Tokyo region. Its brewing water is drawn from a horizontal well hand-dug roughly 140 metres into the bedrock behind the brewery, the clear water that gave Sawai its name and inspired the Sawanoi brand. Next to the brewery is Sawanoi-en, an open riverside garden where visitors order sake and simple food from a ticket machine and settle into roofed open-air shelters along the riverbank. Two restaurants serve the local tofu and yuba (thin sheets skimmed from soy milk) made with the brewery's water. The brewery also runs guided tours ending with a tasting of its finished sake.
Why it stays quiet
Most day-trippers on this line ride all the way to Mitake for the shrine and the gorge, so few get off one stop early at small Sawai. There is also little English information about the brewery, and it sits off the main Tokyo tourist routes.
Background & history
Ozawa Shuzo was founded in 1702, during the Genroku era, making it the longest-operating sake brewery in the Tokyo region. The Sawanoi brand takes its name from the water-rich locale of Sawai, whose clear mountain water — drawn through the hand-dug well — remains the backbone of the brewing process today.
What to look for — in walking order
- Sawanoi-en riverside garden
- open-air shelters along the Tama River; order sake and snacks by ticket machine
- Brewery tour
- guided walk through historic buildings and the hand-dug well, ending with a tasting (reservation required; Japanese with English leaflet)
- Tofu and yuba
- two restaurants beside the garden, one formal course-style and one casual, using the brewery's water
- The Tama River bend
- a clear mountain-water curve in Ome, on the Mitake Gorge riverside path
How to enjoy it
Come as a day trip from central Tokyo on the JR Ome Line, alighting at Sawai Station for a five-minute walk to the brewery. Reserve a tour ahead of time and pair it with a tasting set in the garden — sake, tofu, and river views in one sitting. The garden is open roughly 10:00–17:00 and closed on Mondays.
How to actually get there
- Shinjuku → Ome (JR Chuo Line rapid toward Ome, ~70 min)
- Ome → Sawai (change to the Okutama-bound Ome Line local, ~15 min)
- Sawai Station → brewery (5-minute walk down the slope)
- JR Chuo + Ome Line, ~80-90 min
- Shinjuku Station →(JR Chuo Line rapid toward Ome, ~70 min; or change at Tachikawa)→ Ome Station →(change to the Okutama-bound Ome Line local, ~15 min)→ Sawai Station, one stop before Mitake. Total about 80-90 min. From Sawai it is a 5-minute walk to the brewery.
- trains thin out in the evening
- From Sawai, trains back toward Tokyo run only about 1-2 per hour in the daytime and thin out further in the evening. Check the return times posted at Sawai Station when you arrive, and leave before the tasting runs late.
Before you go
- Cash
- Carry cash: the tasting sets and food counters are easiest to pay for with cash, and rural areas often have few card readers.
- Closing days
- The garden is open about 10:00-17:00 and is closed on Mondays (or the next day if Monday is a holiday); it may also close in bad weather. Check the official site before you go.
- Another way
- For a scenic approach, get off one stop later at Mitake and walk to the brewery along the Mitake Gorge riverside path beside the Tama River.
- After you get off
- From Sawai Station, exit the gate, go down the slope toward the river, and the brewery gate is about a 5-minute walk on a paved lane.