"This legendary sake producer had a quiet start. The brewery was founded in 1902 in Ninohe, Iwate (岩手) as Kuji Shuzo. The family-run company had been a soy sauce brewer.

Sueta Kuji became their first sake brewer, initially using soy sauce brewing techniques. And while this may sound odd to some, brewing soy sauce has similarities to sake brewing.

At this time, their sake was bottled under the Hori no Tomo (堀の友) brand name.

Unfortunately, Sueta Kuji died tragically young in 1916. His wife Nayo took over brewing until their son Hideo Kuji was old enough to succeed.

Hideo did take over eventually. He spent some time in the navy during WWII but survived to continue leading the brewery. After the war, Kuji-san made some savvy changes that would propel the fortunes of the company. The brewery began working with the Nanbu Toji (南部杜氏) brewing guild. And soon after, they took on the name Nanbu Bijin (南部美人). The word bijin means beauty and is in reference to their sake’s flavor profile.

Nanbu Bijin also received help from legendary sake toji (brewers) Sagoro Hirano and Hajime Yamaguchi. They would show Nanbu Bijin how to make premium ginjo-shu sake. This new style was revolutionary and helped them compete with the industry’s mega-breweries.

With the help of Tokyo alcohol retailer Koizumi, Nanbu Bijin’s ginjo-shu gained wide distribution in Japan. Their sakes were a hit. This was in spite of a general decline in sake popularity domestically." .