Neither a city nor a backwater, Agui attracts people for its small, authentic sake brewery.

Away from the sea, richly blessed by nature, the town of Agui stands in the middle of the Aichi’s Chita Peninsula. North to south, the Meitetsu Kowa Line runs through the middle of the town, where limited express trains stop at Agui Station. The town is really easy to get to: by car, the Agui Interchange on the Chitahanto Road (toll road) is only 30 minutes from central Nagoya. The inland location has long favored the cultivation of well-known delicious local rice. Maruichi Shuzo, Agui’s famous brewery, was founded in 1917. Since then, it has steadfastly maintained its traditions as a small, independent maker of artisanal sake. For the hardest-to-brew daiginjo grade of sake, for nine years in a row to 2017, Maruichi has received Gold Awards in the National New Brew Tasting Competition held by the Brewing Society of Japan.