Ohishi Distillery was founded in 1872. Kazunori Oishi is 6th generation Master Distiller. His father originally started filling barrels back in the early 1970s. distilling in the Kuma-Gun region dates back to 1546 when the technology was brought over to Kumamoto by Georges Alverez of Portugal (Alverez was on assignment from Francisco Xavier). since that time, the Kuma-Gun region has been famous for its high quality of both rice and distillation.