Sasakishuzo, established in 1893 in Nishijin, Kyoto, is the only sake brewery still operating within the city's historical center, Rakuchu, while most Kyoto production has long concentrated in the Fushimi district. The brewery stands on land that was once part of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's Jurakudai palace complex, and its Heianshijin label is decorated with paintings of the four protective deities of Heian-kyo; the novelist Yasunari Kawabata once wrote that the brewery's sake carries the taste of Kyoto.
