Japan's sake grades are the "special designation" system (特定名称酒, tokutei meishoshu): eight named premium grades set by how far the rice is polished and whether a little distilled alcohol is added. Junmai grades use rice, kōji and water only; their partners add capped alcohol. Everything outside the eight is ordinary futsū-shu.
This is our deep guide to sake grades and types, for chefs and serious drinkers: how the system works, the polishing ratio that drives it, the full eight-rung ladder, the added-alcohol rule, and the styles that cut across the grades. It goes beyond the summary table in our main sake guide and sits inside the Drinks Masterclass.
How the Sake Grade System Works
Japan classifies premium sake under the special-designation system (特定名称酒, tokutei meishoshu), defined by the National Tax Agency's Standards for Methods and Quality Labelling of Sake. A sake that meets a designation's requirements may print that name, such as junmai ginjo or daiginjo, on the label. There are eight designations; any sake that does not qualify is ordinary sake (普通酒, futsū-shu).
Three things decide a designation: the rice-polishing ratio (seimai-buai), the proportion of kōji rice (at least 15% for every special designation), and whether distilled alcohol is added, plus a sensory-quality requirement. Those few levers generate the whole ladder. The clean way to read any label is to take the grade as a promise about polishing and purity, then let the taste numbers fine-tune the rest.
Source: NRIB sake label-terms booklet (the NTA tokutei meishoshu standard, the three defining factors and the 15% kōji-rice rule), grade B; facts extracted and reworded. Full authority sits in our NRIB and sake records.
Seimai-buai: the Spine of the System
Almost everything in the ladder turns on the rice-polishing ratio (精米歩合, seimai-buai): the weight of the polished white rice as a percentage of the original brown rice. So 40% means 100kg of brown rice has been milled down to 40kg. The counterintuitive part is that a lower number means more has been milled away, and the Japanese shorthand 高精白 ("highly polished") therefore points to a low seimai-buai.
Polishing strips the grain's outer layers, the protein and fat that can give rough, off flavours, and leaves the starch-rich core. The more you polish, the cleaner and more fragrant the sake, but the more rice and time it costs, which is why heavily polished sake is dearer. Brewed slow and cold, a low-seimai-buai sake develops the fruity ginjo aroma (吟醸香) at the heart of the "ginjo method" (吟醸造り), which has no strict legal definition.
As a feel for the range: ordinary and honjozo sake sit around 70%, ginjo grades at 60% or less, daiginjo at 50% or less, and the most polished daiginjo well below that, with Hakutsuru's Tenku milled to 38%. For a chef, the ratio is a quick read on how clean and aromatic a sake will be before you taste it.
Source: NRIB sake label-terms booklet (seimai-buai definition, the inverted shorthand, the ginjo method) and Hakutsuru product specs (the 38% example), grade A/B. Ultra-polished market examples below ~38% are common but not in our cited records.
The Eight Designations
The eight special designations line up in four polishing tiers, each with a pure-rice (junmai) grade beside its added-alcohol partner. Every special designation needs at least 15% kōji rice and must meet a sensory-quality bar; the table below sets the maximum rice remaining (lower is more polished).
| Designation | Japanese | Rice remaining | Added alcohol? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Junmai Daiginjo | 純米大吟醸酒 | 50% or less | No |
| Daiginjo | 大吟醸酒 | 50% or less | Yes (capped) |
| Junmai Ginjo | 純米吟醸酒 | 60% or less | No |
| Ginjo | 吟醸酒 | 60% or less | Yes (capped) |
| Tokubetsu Junmai | 特別純米酒 | 60% or less, or special method | No |
| Tokubetsu Honjozo | 特別本醸造酒 | 60% or less, or special method | Yes (capped) |
| Junmai | 純米酒 | No minimum | No |
| Honjozo | 本醸造酒 | 70% or less | Yes (capped) |
The one wrinkle worth knowing is the tokubetsu nuance. "Tokubetsu" (特別, special) grades qualify either by polishing to 60% or less or by a declared special production method, which is why a sake milled only to 70% can still be Tokubetsu Junmai if the brewery declares the qualifying method. Two standard rules also apply across the board: the raw rice must be graded third-class or above, and the seimai-buai must be shown on the label whenever a special designation is displayed.
For a chef, the practical ladder is simpler than it looks: daiginjo grades are your delicate, aromatic, special-occasion pours; ginjo grades are the versatile food sakes; and junmai and honjozo are the fuller, everyday styles that take warming well.
Source: NRIB sake label-terms booklet (the eight designations, seimai-buai and kōji-rice thresholds, the tokubetsu nuance, the third-class-rice and label rules), grade B; facts extracted and reworded.
The Added-Alcohol Rule
The split that runs down the whole ladder is whether a small amount of distilled "brewing alcohol" (醸造アルコール, jōzō alcohol) is added. It is made by fermenting and distilling sugarcane molasses or grain, and is added before pressing to adjust aroma, lift fragrance and lighten the body. In a special-designation sake its use is capped at 10% of the white-rice weight; go above that cap and the sake cannot carry a special designation at all.
That cap is what pairs each grade: Junmai Daiginjo with Daiginjo, Junmai Ginjo with Ginjo, Tokubetsu Junmai with Tokubetsu Honjozo, and Junmai with Honjozo. The "junmai" side of each pair is made from rice, kōji and water only; the partner adds the capped jōzō alcohol at the same polishing tier. Added alcohol is not a mark of lower quality, just a different style choice: a honjozo's small alcohol addition often makes it light and clean, and good served warm.
Source: NRIB sake label-terms booklet (jōzō alcohol, its purpose, the 10% cap and the junmai/added-alcohol pairing), grade B; facts extracted and reworded.
Futsū-shu: Ordinary Sake
Sake that does not meet any special designation is futsū-shu (普通酒), ordinary or table sake. It may use more jōzō alcohol than the 10% cap and need not declare a seimai-buai, and it is the largest sake category by volume, the everyday sake of Japan. It is not a lesser drink so much as a workhorse one: dependable, affordable, and often the sake a kitchen reaches for to cook with and to warm.
Source: NRIB sake label-terms booklet (futsū-shu definition) and the NRIB Story of Sake (futsū-shu as the largest category by volume), grade B; facts extracted and reworded. Exact market-share figures are not in our cited records.
Popular Products
Four Hakutsuru sakes that walk the grade ladder, from the pure-rice pinnacle to everyday futsū-shu:
Hakutsuru Junmai Daiginjo, 720ml
The top of the ladder: rice polished to 50% or less, no added alcohol, slow and cold-brewed for a clean, aromatic, special-occasion pour. The pure-rice pinnacle. Serve well chilled.
Hakutsuru Superior Junmai Ginjo, 720ml
The ginjo tier: rice at 60% or less, pure-rice, aromatic and structured. The versatile food sake we would put in most kitchens first. Best chilled to cool.
Styles That Cut Across the Grades
A handful of common terms describe how a sake is finished or handled, not its grade, so they can apply to any designation and sit alongside it on a label. A bottle can be a Junmai Daiginjo Genshu, or a Tokubetsu Junmai Nama. These are orthogonal to the ladder, not rungs on it.
| Style | Japanese | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Genshu | 原酒 | Undiluted: no water added after pressing, so higher ABV and fuller flavour |
| Namazake | 生酒 | Unpasteurised (no hiire): fresh and lively, kept cold |
| Koshu | 古酒 | Aged or long-aged: amber, nutty, oxidative |
| Nigori | にごり | Coarsely filtered and cloudy with rice solids: softer, often sweeter |
| Taruzake | 樽酒 | Stored in wooden barrels, taking on a cedar scent |
| Kimoto / Yamahai | 生酛 / 山廃 | Traditional yeast-starter methods that give a fuller, more savoury character |
For a chef, the takeaway is to read a sake label as a grade plus any styles: the grade tells you the polishing and purity, the style tells you how it was finished, and the taste numbers do the rest.
Source: NRIB sake label-terms booklet and NRIB sake terms (genshu, namazake, taruzake, kiippon, the kimoto/yamahai starter methods) plus SushiSushi product records (koshu, nigori), grade A/B; facts extracted and reworded. Full kimoto/yamahai process detail is not yet folded in.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the grades of sake?
Japan's special-designation system has eight premium grades: junmai daiginjo and daiginjo (rice polished to 50% or less), junmai ginjo and ginjo (60% or less), tokubetsu junmai and tokubetsu honjozo, and junmai and honjozo. Each pure-rice junmai grade has an added-alcohol partner at the same polishing tier. Anything outside the eight is ordinary futsū-shu.
What is the difference between junmai and daiginjo?
They describe different things. Junmai means pure-rice sake, made from rice, kōji and water with no added alcohol. Daiginjo describes how far the rice is polished, to 50% or less, brewed by the aromatic ginjo method. So they can combine: a junmai daiginjo is both pure-rice and highly polished. A plain daiginjo is highly polished but has a little capped alcohol added.
What does the rice-polishing ratio (seimai-buai) mean?
It is the percentage of the rice grain left after milling: 50% means half the grain has been polished away. A lower number means more has been removed, leaving the cleaner, starch-rich core, which generally gives a more refined, fragrant and higher-grade sake. It also costs more rice and time, which is why heavily polished sake is dearer. The ratio must be shown on special-designation labels.
Is added-alcohol sake lower quality than junmai?
No. In special-designation sake the distilled alcohol is capped at 10% of the rice weight and is added to lift aroma and lighten the body, not to bulk it out. Many superb daiginjo and ginjo sakes use it deliberately for their style. Junmai simply means none was added. The two are different style choices at the same polishing tier, not a quality ranking.
What is futsū-shu?
Futsū-shu (ordinary sake) is sake that does not meet any of the eight special designations. It can use more added alcohol than the 10% cap and need not declare a polishing ratio, and it is the largest category of sake by volume, the everyday table sake of Japan. It is the dependable, affordable style many kitchens reach for to cook with and to serve warm.
Where to Buy Sake by Grade in the UK
If you are looking to buy sake in the UK, we keep a range across the grade ladder with fast delivery across the UK, from premium junmai daiginjo to versatile junmai ginjo and everyday futsū-shu. Start with a junmai ginjo if you want one bottle that does most jobs.
For more, read our main sake guide and our guide to sake temperature, or read about shochu, the distilled side of Japanese drinks.
Technical data sourced from NRIB (the National Research Institute of Brewing): the sake label-terms booklet for the tokutei meishoshu standard, seimai-buai, the 10% jōzō-alcohol cap and the cross-cutting style terms, NRIB Sake Terms for the standard English renderings, and the NRIB Story of Sake for the futsū-shu volume note; example polishing ratios and style examples are from Hakutsuru and SushiSushi product records. The standard sits under Japan's Liquor Tax Law, administered by the National Tax Agency and classified by NRIB. NRIB publications are fact-extracted and reworded, not reproduced.
