was a Japanese chemist and businessman. He is known as the founder of Japan's

whisky Whisky or whiskey is a type of liquor made from Fermentation in food processing, fermented grain mashing, mash. Various grains (which may be Malting, malted) are used for different varieties, including barley, Maize, corn, rye, and wheat. Whisky ...

industry and

Nikka Whisky Distilling The is a producer of Japanese whisky and other beverages headquartered in Tokyo. It is owned by Asahi Group Holdings. The company operates a number of distilleries and other facilities in Japan, including two Japanese whisky distilleries, the Y ...

. Born to a family that had owned a

sake Sake, , or saki, also referred to as Japanese rice wine, is an alcoholic beverage of Japanese origin made by fermenting rice that has been polished to remove the bran. Despite the name ''Japanese rice wine'', sake, and indeed any East Asi ...

brewery since 1733, he traveled to

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

in 1918 to study organic chemistry and distilling. He then returned to Japan establishing a whisky distillery at

Suntory (commonly referred to as simply Suntory) is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational brewing and distilling company group. Established in 1899, it is one of the oldest companies in the distribution of alcoholic beverages in Japan, and ...

and founded his own distilling company, Nikka Whisky, in 1934.

Early life

Masataka Taketsuru was born on June 20, 1894, in

Takehara, Hiroshima file:Takehara City.jpg, 270px, Panorama of Takehara City center file:Takehara city center area Aerial photograph.2010.jpg, 270px, Aerial photograph of Takehara City center file:Taketsuru house Takehara.jpg, 270px, Taketsuru house in Takehara histo ...

, to a family that had owned a

brewery since 1733.

Experiences in Scotland

In December 1918, he arrived in

and enrolled at the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

, where he studied

organic chemistry Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the science, scientific study of the structure, properties, and reactions of organic compounds and organic matter, organic materials, i.e., matter in its various forms that contain ...

in the summer of 1919. Taketsuru studied under Thomas Stewart Patterson, the Gardiner Chair of Chemistry. In April 1919, Taketsuru began his apprenticeship at

Longmorn distillery Longmorn distillery is a single malt Scotch whisky distillery in Longmorn, Moray, within the Strathspey whisky producing area of Scotland. History The Longmorn Distillery Company was founded in 1893 by John Duff, Charles Shirres and George ...

in Strathspey, Scotland, and then in July at James Calder & Co.'s Bo'ness distillery in the Lowlands region. On 8 January 1920, he married Jessie Roberta "Rita" Cowan of Middlecroft,

Kirkintilloch Kirkintilloch (; ; ) is a town and a Burgh of Barony (The Baron of Kirkintilloch) in East Dunbartonshire, Scotland. It lies on the Forth and Clyde Canal and on the south side of Strathkelvin, about northeast of central Glasgow. Historically ...

, despite opposition from both their families. Initially, they lived in

Campbeltown Campbeltown (; or ) is a town and former royal burgh in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It lies by Campbeltown Loch on the Kintyre Peninsula. Campbeltown became an important centre for Scotch whisky, and a busy fishing port. The 2018 populatio ...

and his last apprenticeship began in May 1920 at Hazelburn distillery (purchased in 1920 by Mackie & Co., then owners of Springbank) before moving to Japan later in November 1920 via

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

and

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

Return to Japan

After returning to Japan, Taketsuru worked at Kotobukiya, which would later become

, where he helped establish a whisky distillery just outside of Kyoto. In 1934 he founded his own distilling company, Dai Nippon Kaju K.K., in Yoichi on the northern Japanese island of

Hokkaido is the list of islands of Japan by area, second-largest island of Japan and comprises the largest and northernmost prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own list of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō fr ...

. He believed that this part of Japan was the most similar to Scotland. He later renamed the company Nikka. Nikka whisky was first sold in October 1940. Taketsuru's wife, Rita, died in January 1961, of liver disease. Taketsuru died in 1979. He is buried in Yoichi together with his wife.

References

External links

Japanese Whisky History (1854-1918) - The Jurassic Period to 1980s

* ttp://www.nikka.com/eng/ Nikka website {{DEFAULTSORT:Taketsuru, Masataka 1894 births 1979 deaths 20th-century Japanese businesspeople Japanese whisky Alumni of the University of Glasgow Osaka University alumni People from Hiroshima Prefecture Whisky blenders

Early life

Experiences in Scotland

Return to Japan

See also

References

Further reading

External links