Sasakishuzo was founded in 1893 in the Rakuchu district of central Kyoto and remains the only operating sake brewery north of Nijo Castle in the city's historic core, where there were once more than 300 breweries in the medieval period. The Koto brand draws on Kyoto's cultural heritage, with its label bearing calligraphy by Nobel laureate Yasunari Kawabata, who praised the sake as embodying the true taste of Kyoto. The brewery uses groundwater from the former Jurakudai estate favored by tea master Sen no Rikyu, and sources Kyoto-grown rice whenever possible.
