Founded in 1881 in Shibata, Niigata Prefecture, Kikusui Sake Co., Ltd. reshaped Japan's sake market in 1972 by becoming the first brewery to successfully package and sell nama genshu in an aluminum can — the product now known worldwide as Funaguchi Kikusui Ichiban Shibori. The brewery later established a dedicated Japan Sake Culture Research Institute in 2004 to develop small-batch premium offerings alongside its volume lines, and brands like Mukan Tei and Setsugoro emerged from that research environment.
