Masataka Taketsuru (竹鶴 政孝, Taketsuru Masataka, 1894–1979) was a *anese chemist and businessman. He is known as the founder of *an's whisky industry and Nikka Whisky Distilling.

Born to a family that had owned a sake brewery since 1733, he traveled to Scotland in 1918 to study organic chemistry and distilling. He then returned to *an establishing a whisky distillery at Suntory and founded his own distilling company, Nikka Whisky, in 1934.

Contents

• 1 Early life
• 2 Experiences in Scotland
• 3 Return to *an
• 4 See also
• 5 References
• 6 Further reading
• 7 External links

Early life

The Taketsuru House (old brewery) in Takehara, Hiroshima

Masataka Taketsuru was born on June 20, 1894 in Takehara, Hiroshima, to a family that had owned a sake brewery since 1733.

Experiences in Scotland

In December 1918, he arrived in Scotland and enrolled at the University of Glasgow, where he studied organic chemistry 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 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, despite opposition from both their families. Initially, they lived in Campbeltown and his last apprenticeship began in May 1920 at Hazelburn distillery (purchased in 1920 by Mackie & Co., then owners of Springbank) before moving to *an later in November 1920 via New York and Seattle.

Return to *an

Bust of Masataka Taketsuru in Yoichi, Hokkaido

After returning to *an, Taketsuru worked at Kotobukiya, which would later become Suntory, where he helped establish a whisky distillery. In 1934 he founded his own distilling company, Dai Nippon Kaju K.K., in Yoichi on the northern *anese island of Hokkaido. He believed that this part of *an 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.

See also

• M*an - NHK Asadora (morning drama) television series inspired by the life of Taketsuru and his wife Rita

References

Further reading

• Checkland, Olive (1998). *anese Whisky, Scotch Blend: Masataka Taketsuru, the *anese whisky king and Rita, his Scotch wife. Dalkeith: Scottish Cultural Press. ISBN:1840170034.

External links

• *anese Whisky History (1854-1918) - The Jur*ic Period to 1980s
• Masataka Taketsuru's entry in the University of Glasgow matriculation book in 1919
• Nikka website