1877 — Takano and Tsuchiya French Training Mission
The two-year French training that produced Japan’s first commercially viable winery — and the ancestor of Mercian
What Happened
In 1877 (Meiji 10), two years after the Yamada-Takuma technical failure, the Yamanashi prefectural government selected two young men from Katsunuma — Masanari Takano (then 25) and Ryūken Tsuchiya (then 19) — for a state-supported training mission to France. The goal: bring back actual modern winemaking technique, rather than try to adapt sake brewing equipment to grape juice.
The two trained in France through 1878 and into early 1879, focused on Bordeaux and Loire winemaking practices. The exact details of their itinerary, host estates, and curriculum are not perfectly documented — they predated formal record-keeping practices that Bordeaux would later adopt. But the broad outline is clear: classical French training, applied to a Japanese context, with prefectural backing.
They returned to Yamanashi in 1879 and immediately founded the Dai-Nihon Yamanashi Budōshu Kaisha (大日本山梨葡萄酒会社) in Katsunuma — the first Japanese-led, French-trained commercial winery employing modern technique. Investment came from the prefectural government and private subscribers.
What Followed
The 1877–79 mission established three things:
1. The technical foundation. French training meant access to actual modern wine technique — proper barrel handling, lees management, sulfur use. The early wines were still imperfect, but the trajectory was set.
2. The institutional foundation. Dai-Nihon Yamanashi Budōshu Kaisha continued through several reorganizations and corporate transformations. The brand "Mercian" was adopted in 1949; Kirin acquired the parent company in 2006. But the institutional lineage runs unbroken from 1877 to the present.
3. The cultural foundation. Takano and Tsuchiya’s training mission established the model — Japanese vintners studying in France and bringing methods back — that has continued in various forms ever since. Most senior Japanese winemakers of the past century have spent meaningful time training in France.
Details
- Year: 1877 (Meiji 10) departure; 1879 return
- Principals: Masanari Takano (高野正誠, 1852–1923); Ryūken Tsuchiya (土屋龍憲, 1858–1940)
- Sponsor: Yamanashi prefectural government
- Training location: France (primarily Bordeaux, Loire)
- Returned to Yamanashi: 1879
- Founded: Dai-Nihon Yamanashi Budōshu Kaisha (predecessor of Mercian)