Founded in the mid- to late Edo period in Higashiomi City, on the east side of Lake Biwa, the brewery suspended its own sake brewing operations in 2000. Later, the brewery rented a brewery from Hata Sake Brewery in the same city and launched the Ichihiro brand, before reviving its own sake brewing operations in 2015. The brand name "Ichihiro" is a combination of one character each from the names of two Noto brewers, Sakagashira Hoichi and Taniuchi Hiroshi, under whom brewer Nakazawa Kazuhiro studied. The brewery exclusively produces pure rice sake, using rice suitable for sake brewing (Yamada Nishiki and Ginbuki) grown entirely by local contracted farmers, the Donbyakusho Association.