Art and Sake.

Every year, we present two Junmai Daiginjo sake—both polished to an exceptional 7%—with new labels that feature various artworks.
We are pleased to introduce this year’s releases of “NIIZAWA Junmai Daiginjo 2025” and “NIIZAWA KIZASHI Junmai Daiginjo 2025.”

Through the selection from “NIIZAWA Prize by ARTLOGUE”, the “Grand Prize” is awarded to a world’s top artist, and the “Kizashi Prize” to an up-and-coming artist. The winning artworks are showcased on the labels of our special-edition sakes.
This initiative exemplifies the Art × Sake collaboration project between ARTLOGUE Inc. and Niizawa Sake Brewery.

In 2025, we welcomed Yoichi Ochiai as the artist for “NIIZAWA Junmai Daiginjo 2025” and Akihito Okunaka for “NIIZAWA KIZASHI Junmai Daiginjo 2025”. With everyone’s cooperations, each bottle became a remarkable work of its own.

We invite you to take your time to admire the bottle and savor the experience with all five senses.

 

“NIIZAWA Junmai Daiginjo 2025”
■ Rice Polishing Ratio: 7%
■ Shipping Start Date: Tuesday, November 11, 2025
■ Storage: Keep refrigerated at –5°C to 5°C

Positioned at the pinnacle of the 7% polishing series, this Jumai Daiginjo was created in the pursuit of “the world’s finest rice polishing”.
It delivers a pure essence of rice umami, followed by a lingering finish that paints the ultimate picture of beauty.
Its graceful maturation through cold storage is truly an art nurtured by time.

■Label sticker
Yoichi Ochiai
Liquid Universe: Yearning for the Moment When the Computer Unravels into a Butterfly and Becomes Mass (2025)

Media artist. Born in 1987, he began his artistic practice around 2010. His works explore themes of materialization and transformation in liminal domains, and the yearning for mass and embodiment. Associate Professor at the University of Tsukuba, and Theme Project Producer for Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan.

Major solo exhibitions include Special Exhibition at Kusakabe Folk Crafts Museum (Gifu, 2021–2025); Resonance of Null: The Interconnection of Emptiness in Computational Nature (Museum of Light by Tadao Ando, Kiyoharu Art Colony, Yamanashi, 2023); and Deities of Dusk and Dawn: Sushi Null ∴ Eel Dragon (Brillia Art Gallery, Tokyo, 2024).

Permanent exhibitions include Computers and Nature, Nature of Computers (National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation [Miraikan], 2019). Other major group exhibitions include “With the Heart of a Child, To You” (Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo, 2020); Kitakyushu Future Creation Art Festival: ART for SDGs (Kitakyushu Museum of Natural History & Human History, 2021); and Study: Osaka Kansai International Art Festival (2022–2023).

He has also engaged in numerous interdisciplinary collaborations, such as Japan-China-Korea Arts Festival 2021 in Kitakyushu and Yoichi Ochiai × Japan Philharmonic Orchestra Project (2018–2025).

■ “NIIZAWA Junmai Daiginjo” Product Page: https://niizawa-brewery.co.jp/en/item/980/

 

“NIIZAWA KIZASHI Junmai Daiginjo 2025”
■ Rice Polishing Ratio: 7%
■ Shipping Start Date: Tuesday, November 11, 2025
■ Storage: Keep refrigerated at –5°C to 5°C

Crafted in pursuit of the outer limits of 7% rice polishing, this sake delicately draws out the rice’s umami.
It combines a fresh, youthful character with a refined, crystalline clarity.
Enjoy its beautiful evolution as it ages gracefully when stored refrigerated.

■Label sticker
Akihito Okunaka
《INTER-WORLD/Cocooner:Apparent motion of celestial bodies》, 2025

Born in Kyoto Prefecture in 1981, currently based in the same region. Co-director of Aoi Oa / AO Institute of Arts. He leads the “Experiential Art Course” at the Yamashiro Cultural Center in Kizugawa City.

After graduating from the Faculty of Education at Shizuoka University, Okunaka worked as an art instructor at the Shizuoka Prefectural Museum of Art and at welfare facilities for people with intellectual disabilities. Later, he studied modern and contemporary thought and became a visual artist. Supported by grants from Japan and abroad, he has undertaken long-term artist residencies (AIR) in France, South Korea, and China.

Taking “The Bubble Structure of the World” and “The Dynamics of Relationships” as his motifs, Okunaka creates soft inflatable sculptures that stand independently as if imbued with the spirits of air, earth, and sun, developed through co-creation with the public.

Through his involvement in community-based art projects across Japan, he has continued to evolve as an artist who develops and presents large-scale experiential works and workshops together with citizens.

Recent major exhibitions include:

■ NIIZAWA KIZASHI Junmai Daiginjo Product Page: https://niizawa-brewery.co.jp/en/item/979/