Nihonshu / seishu (Japanese rice sake)
Nihonshu (日本酒), or seishu, is Japanese rice sake: steamed rice, rice koji, water and a yeast starter ferment together in one mash, which is then pressed and finished.
Equipment · Bags, sacks and casings
Sake pressing bag (saka-bukuro)
酒袋 · saka-bukuro · sakabukuro · sake bag · sake pressing bag
A sake pressing bag holds moromi while cloth separates liquid sake from rice-and-yeast lees. Traditional fune presses stack filled bags; material and shape vary by method and period.
A cloth filter for sake mash
A sake pressing bag, 酒袋 (saka-bukuro), holds moromi—the fermented rice mash—while liquid sake drains through the cloth and solids remain as sake kasu, or lees. The bag is therefore a separator used at the end of brewing, not a fermentation vessel. A Japanese sake museum's historical account describes the lees being removed from the bag after pressing.
The name covers more than one arrangement. A tube-shaped bag may be hung so the liquid drips out, while bags can also be laid into a press. The National Research Institute of Brewing treats these as distinct pressing methods rather than one universal setup.
Bags in a fune press
In traditional fune pressing, bags filled with moromi are stacked inside a vat-shaped press. The National Research Institute of Brewing explains that the weight of the stacked bags first produces a natural flow; pressure can then be applied gradually from above. Sake drains out while rice, kōji and yeast remain in the cloth bags.
The Nada Sake Research glossary describes long fune bags holding about 5–9 litres of mash and says the remaining sake cake is removed after pressing. That range describes the glossary's fune-bag examples, not every sake bag. Its separate fukuro-tsuri bags have a different form and material.
Two forms, two pressing methods
Fukurozuri (also called shizuku-tori) suspends bags so sake drips out without pressure; funeshibori places mash-filled bags in a fune and presses them from above. A brewery's description of traditional pressing also records a lever-driven method that applies pressure to a lid above the bags. These are related ways to separate the same mash, but their bag shape, material and loading differ.
Machine presses have become widespread, and bag pressing has declined; the bag is not a standard component in every modern brewery. The high-end hanging method and the fune method are different arrangements, not one universal setup.
Materials and limits
The glossary contrasts older coarsely woven cotton with contemporary synthetics such as nylon, Teviron and Tetron. It notes that durable modern textiles can be easier to care for and make the pressed cake easier to remove. These descriptions show change over time, not a fixed historical material standard.
No source here specifies a single bag for every sake style, a universal pressing schedule, or a home-batch dimension. The linked museum photograph shows workers handling sake bags and lees in a documented traditional process; the generated hero is an illustration of one fune-style bag, not a photograph or reconstruction of a named artifact.
Sources for this section
History
The Hakushika Memorial Museum of Sake presents traditional sake brewing from the Meiji through Showa periods and describes mash pressed in a sake bag with a fune, leaving lees in the bag. The National Research Institute of Brewing distinguishes hanging cloth-bag pressing from stacked bags in a fune and machine pressing.
Equipment details
PowerNo power Passive cloth filtration; pressure, when used, comes from a separate press.
Made of
- Textile — filtering bag
The Nada Sake Research glossary says coarsely woven cotton was used historically and synthetics are now used in many bags; specific materials vary by method and period.
Places
Japan
Traditional use · Country evidenceThe sources describe Japanese sake pressing practices at country level; they do not identify one regional origin for the bag.
Related
Used for
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Sources
Society for Nada Sake ResearchMaterials · Method · Capacity
Saka-bukuro | Sake GlossaryThe glossary defines saka-bukuro as a sake-pressing bag used with moromi and sake cake.
It describes long fune bags holding about 5–9 litres, and says the pressed cake is removed after pressing.
It distinguishes historical coarsely woven cotton from current synthetic fibers and notes that bag pressing has declined as machine presses spread; fukuro-tsuri bags differ in form and material.
Cited in: A cloth filter for sake mash; Bags in a fune press; Two forms, two pressing methods; Materials and limits
National Research Institute of BrewingMethod · History
The Story of Sake No. 2: The Integration of Science and TechnologyThe NRIB describes hanging a cloth bag for drip pressing, stacking bags of mash in a fune, and automatic filter presses as distinct methods.
In fune pressing, the weight of stacked bags produces initial flow and pressure may be raised gradually; the source describes sake and sake cake separation.
Cited in: A cloth filter for sake mash; Bags in a fune press; Two forms, two pressing methods
Hakushika Memorial Museum of SakeHistory · Method
Traditional Sake Brewing Process Part 2The museum frames the traditional process it describes across the Meiji-to-Showa period, 1868–1989.
It says moromi is pressed in a sake bag with a fune, leaving sake lees in the bag to be removed; its photo documents workers peeling lees from sake bags.
Cited in: A cloth filter for sake mash; Materials and limits
Nakano no SakaguraMethod
Press machine・Cedar casksThe brewery distinguishes fukurozuri, where bags of mash hang and drip without pressure, from funeshibori, where sacks are pressed in a fune.
It describes a traditional lever method pressing a lid above mash-filled sacks.
Cited in: Two forms, two pressing methods