Yakushima lies across the Osumi Strait from Komaki Distillery, in Satsuma town, Kagoshima Prefecture. The island is well-known as Japan’s joint-first World Natural Heritage Site, registered in 1993, together with the Shirakami Mountains. Yakushima’s hinterland is entirely composed of mountains, with

Komaki Jozo is the parent body of Komaki Distillery. It began in 1909 when Komaki Isekichi, our founder, began making shochu, with just one chief brewer and three assistants. Ever since, we have used sweet potatoes and rice fostered in Kagoshima’s natural surroundings mixed with the subterranean wat

The Komaki Distillery now matures whiskies in barrels of cedarwood grown on Yakushima Island. This is a first in Japan. Our opening edition will launch in winter 2025, but prior to that, we have a new pot available in 2024. The Komaki Distillery is situated in the Satsuma region, surrounded by mount

The general understanding of trees and timbers is that broad-leaved species, such as zelkova and beech, are hard and slow-growing, changing in complex ways, while needle-leaved trees, such as cedar and cypress, are soft, growing fast and straight. However, Yakushima cedars growing at over- 500m abov