What is honkaku shochu?

Honkaku shochu is a single-distilled Japanese spirit made from a single fermentable source (sweet potato, barley, rice) using koji fermentation. It preserves the character of the base ingredient — unlike continuously-distilled shochu (otsurui).

Toji Junpei is the honkaku shochu brand of Kodama Distillery (founded 1818, Nichinan, Miyazaki). It is made by 6th-generation master distiller Junpei Kanamaru using handmade koji.

What is the difference between Session and Session Pro?

Session (22% ABV) is a lighter expression designed for the dining table — served as a wine glass on the rocks. Session Pro (36% ABV) is built as a base spirit for modern mixologists: cocktails, highballs, and Japanese lemon sour.

Email info@tojijunpei.com with the subject "Session Renewal RSVP".

Where is The Bellwood?

41-31 Udagawacho, Shibuya, Tokyo 150-0042. The event is held at the BW Cave space (No.48, World's 50 Best Bars 2025).

TOJI JUNPEI

MASTERCLASS COCKTAIL TASTING EVENING / 夜会

2026.05.20

RSVP →

An Evening · 今宵について

Where the wine list ends,
Session begins.

「ワインリストの終わりに、
Sessionが始まる。」

About the Evening

On Wednesday, May 20, 2026, we gather at The Bellwood — BW Cave in Shibuya, Tokyo, to mark the renewal of Toji Junpei Session, a new chapter of honkaku shochu from Kodama Distillery in Miyazaki. Master distiller Junpei Kanamaru joins for the evening alongside a Session Pro cocktail programme by Atsushi Suzuki of The Bellwood — No.48, World's 50 Best Bars 2025.

The Wari Bar is built by five of the city's defining mixologists, each presenting one expression of honkaku shochu: cocktail, oyuwari, sodawari, mizuwari, ochawari, and on the rocks.

Featured bartenders: Atsushi Suzuki (The Bellwood) · Ryushin Komatsuyama (國酒松) · Masafumi Oshita (NISHITACHI) · Shuichi Ofuchi (SG Tavern) · Forest Ochawari (HERBSTAND × Libushi Bashamichi × Bar Straw via N.E.W.S Project)

今宵について

2026年5月20日（水）、東京・The Bellwood「BW Cave」にて、本格焼酎・杜氏潤平 Session のリニューアルを祝う一夜を開催します。蔵元・杜氏 金丸潤平 が同席し、The Bellwood の 鈴木敦（World's 50 Best Bars No.48 / 2025）による Session Pro カクテル・プログラム、そして東京と各地から集まる五人の作り手による「割り」のバーを構成しました。

カクテル、お湯割り、ソーダ割り、水割り、お茶割り、ロック──本格焼酎・杜氏潤平の飲み方をひと晩で巡る、特別なプログラムです。

参加バーテンダー：鈴木敦（The Bellwood）／小松山龍辰（國酒松）／大下マサフミ（NISHITACHI）／大渕修一（SG Tavern）／森のお茶割り（HERBSTAND × Libushi Bashamichi × Bar Straw / N.E.W.S Project）

Date 日時: Wednesday, May 20, 20262026年5月20日（水）
Time 時間: 17:00 – 23:00Cocktail Tasting 17:00 – 19:30 / Wari Bar 19:00 – 23:00
Venue 会場: The Bellwood — BW Cave41-31 Udagawacho, Shibuya, Tokyo 150-0042 / 〒150-0042 東京都渋谷区宇田川町41-31
Hosted by 主催: Kodama Distillery × The Bellwoodwith IMADEYA Ginza · Sumida
RSVP 参加: info@tojijunpei.com →

Ⅱ Tezukuri Line · 手造り Series

Toji Junpei — Tezukuri Artisanal Series

First look at the new label launching July 2026.

Toji Junpei Tezukuri trio: Beni-imo, Naked Barley, Junmai

The quiet wisdom of
handmade koji.

In the wood-clad koji room at Kodama Distillery, we cultivate koji by hand — guided by touch, temperature, and humidity, attuned to the will of the microbes.

The name "Toji Junpei" is most often associated with our beni-imo (red sweet potato) shochu, but what we hold most dear is the craft itself: the daily work of koji. Subtlety · Balance · Depth — we draw out the natural character of each raw material with care, finishing every spirit with a long, generous breath.

ABV: 25%
Volume: 720ml / 1800ml
Ingredients: Naked Barley · Beni-Imo · Japanese Rice
Koji: Rice / White Koji
Distillation: Atmospheric
Serve: Sodawari · Oyuwari · Room-temp mizuwari

Ⅲ Session · セッション

A new addition to the Toji Junpei lineup — Session.

杜氏潤平 Session

Always easy.
Always right.

A lighter modern blend, built for the restaurant table — bottle and label designed to enhance the room. Our recommended serve is the wine glass on the rocks: one large ice cube, finished with intention and grace, the bottle's design always in view.

Blended with Hanadori — the rare, fruity first cut of distillation — for a delicate, floral aromatic finish.

ABV: 22%
Volume: 180ml / 720ml
Ingredients: Beni-Imo · Rice Koji
Koji: Rice / White Koji
Distillation: Atmospheric + Reduced Pressure
Serve: Wine glass on the rocks · Maewari · Oyuwari

Ⅳ Session Pro · セッションプロ

Toji Junpei Session Pro bottle with highball glass

Borderless harmony with every ingredient.

杜氏潤平 Session Pro

Borderless harmony
with every ingredient.

Built to hold its own architecture alongside any partner ingredient. The right distance — present enough to elevate a cocktail, restrained enough to let other elements breathe. The perfect companion for Japanese lemon sour, lightly-roasted coffee, fragrant green tea, and any drink with a point of view.

A base spirit free of preconception — honkaku shochu reimagined for the modern mixologist.

ABV: 36%
Volume: 720ml
Ingredients: Beni-Imo · Rice Koji
Koji: Rice / White Koji
Distillation: Atmospheric + Reduced Pressure
Serve: Cocktails · Highball · Japanese lemon sour

Ⅴ

COCKTAIL
TASTING

17:00 – 19:30

Never tiring. Never tiresome.
The keywords: Subtlety · Balance · Depth.

ATSUSHI
SUZUKI 鈴木敦 / The Bellwood cocktail

Atsushi-san's style is classic yet entirely on the cutting edge — refined, established, deeply original. An iconic drink-maker. Toji Junpei Session Pro, a modern reading of traditional beni-imo shochu, pairs beautifully with Atsushi's hand. A "new classic" built around honkaku shochu.

Ⅶ by Atsushi Suzuki · The Bellwood

TOJI JUNPEI

Cocktails / ¥1,600

MARTINI Pro

apple & matcha \ 林檎と抹茶

session proセッションプロ + apple林檎 elderflowerエルダーフラワー sauternesソーテルヌ matcha抹茶

HIGHBALL Pro

pear & bancha \ 洋梨と番茶

session proセッションプロ + pear洋梨 almondアーモンド grape vinegar葡萄酢 bancha soda番茶ソーダ

NEGRONI Pro

brown butter & shio koji \ 焦がしバターと塩麹

session proセッションプロ + brown butter焦がしバター sakura桜 suzeスーズ shio koji塩麹

SWEET POTATO SHOCHU · 本格焼酎

RYUSHIN
KOMATSUYAMA 小松山龍辰 / 國酒松 oyuwari

Sake and shochu — Japan's national spirits — are drinks to be enjoyed across a full spectrum of temperatures. Certain flavors and aromas only emerge at very specific points on that spectrum. Komatsuyama-san understands not only the destination temperature but the path to that temperature — drawing out each shochu's individual character. His oyuwari course is essential.

Ⅸ by Ryushin Komatsuyama · 國酒松

TOJI JUNPEI

Oyuwari / ¥1,200
Oyuwari Course / ¥4,400

①

Toji Junpei Artisanal Beniimo 杜氏潤平手造り紅芋

specs Water 75°C / Final 48–52°C pairing Smoked iburigakko · fried gyoza skin (wafu sauce)

A deep, rounded mouthfeel with quiet alcohol — flavor rises softly from the palate. Built for anniversaries, gifts, and moments of small ceremony, paired with a sense of occasion.
②

Toji Junpei Artisanal Naked Barley 杜氏潤平手造りはだか麦

specs Water 60°C / Final 38–40°C pairing Soy milk & kombu starter (with cream cheese)

The oily depth of barley with its texture preserved, opening as the temperature mellows. A weighty finish that softens, leading to a sensation that reverberates across the senses.
③

Toji Junpei Artisanal Junmai 杜氏潤平手造り醇米

specs Water 90°C → 60°C / Final 48–52°C pairing Shio-katsuo sashimi

Using the temperature-step logic specific to rice koji — a steep drop from water to glass that brings forward tannin while preserving softness. A winter motif, finished on a gentle aftertaste.
④

Toji Junpei Artisanal Beniimo × Rice Koji Black Tea 杜氏潤平手造り紅芋 × 米麹紅茶

Built on a beni-imo handmade-koji shochu blended specifically for tea, the cup is completed with handmade rice-koji black tea. A warm, finishing pour — gentle yet generous in aftertaste, a floral balance held in a single quiet moment.

Yakai / 夜会

19:00 – 23:00

BW Cave

Water — the origin of all liquid.
From this simplest material, the
shochu tradition draws its play.

Ⅺ Sodawari Lab

MASAFUMI
OSHITA

Masafumi Oshita / NISHITACHI · 大下マサフミ

soda-wari

Sodawari is one of the most powerfully popular ways to drink shochu. Built well, it carries shochu's aromatic compounds with bright clarity. Oshita-san constructs sodawari twelve different ways.

Without changing the shochu pour, he varies temperature, sequence, and approach — capturing every possible expression a single bottle can carry.

Diagram below ↓

Regular

Basic shochu sodawari. The ice tightens the build; the carbonation sharpens the aroma.

Soda Shochu

Volume of carbonation shapes mouthfeel and flavor architecture. Ice quantity matters.

Kanene

Shochu + water + soda, balancing volumes and temperature for a delicate finish.

Boost

A way of drawing the rising aroma from the base of the glass that you can't get elsewhere.

Yu-So

Hot water then cold soda, in sequence — a thermal interval that springs the aroma forward.

See-Saw

Alternating pours — the shochu's flavor moves back and forth like a see-saw.

SHUICHI
OFUCHI 大渕修一 / SG Tavern mizuwari

Trained as a barista, a sommelier, and a bartender — Ofuchi-san has lived deep inside the world of liquids. Where he has arrived: a startlingly simple shochu mizuwari. Attentive to water hardness and mineral balance, he draws each shochu's character and flavor into clear view.

ⅩⅢ Forest Ochawari · 森のお茶割り

FOREST
OCHAWARI

Forest Ochawari / N.E.W.S Project · 森のお茶割り

ochawari

Built on Toji Junpei Artisanal Naked Barley, this ochawari is generously infused with plants that grow wild on the northern slopes of Mt. Fuji. Anchored in Yame-cha — a tea deeply familiar to Japanese palates — the build layers herbal flavor and aroma in successive registers, pursuing the full possibility of the plants themselves.

Herbal teas of plants beyond the traditional Camellia genus are considered, here, a form of tea too. An ochawari built with the wish that plants be drunk freely, in everyday life.

Lead

HERBSTAND Yamanashi / Fujiyoshida

Venue

Libushi Bashamichi Kanagawa / Yokohama

Recipe

Bar Straw Tokyo / Akasaka-mitsuke

ⅩⅣ BW Cave Wari Menu