We’re heading into Chugoku – also known as the middle of the country though it’s the westernmost part of the main island of Honshu. The Chūgoku region is characterized by irregular rolling hills and limited plain areas and is divided into two distinct parts by mountains running east and west through its centre. For this entry, we’re looking at Tottori prefecture, located on the north side of the prefecture, next to the Japan sea.
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Background to Tottori
Tottori Prefecture is home to the Tottori Sand Dunes, the largest sand dunes system in Japan, and Mount Daisen, the highest peak in the Chūgoku Mountains. The word “Tottori” in Japanese is formed from 鳥, which means “bird” and 取 means “to get”. Early residents in the area made their living catching the region’s plentiful waterfowl.
A Brief History of Tottori
People have lived here since ancient times, farming rice in fertile plains and fishing along the rugged shoreline. The area once formed the old provinces of Inaba and Hōki, which sat right on important travel routes linking Japan’s coastal San’in region to the inland. Temples like Sanbutsuji, clinging dramatically to the cliffs of Mount Mitoku, remind visitors that this has long been a place of spiritual importance as well as trade and travel.
The medieval period brought samurai clans who fought fiercely for control. Tottori Castle, built in the 16th century, became the stage for one of the Sengoku era’s most famous sieges. In 1581, Toyotomi Hideyoshi surrounded the castle, cutting off supplies until the starving defenders finally gave in. The event left a dark mark on Tottori’s history, but it also put the region on the map as a key point in the unification of Japan.
When peace came under the Tokugawa shogunate, the powerful Ikeda family ruled the Tottori Domain. The castle town of Tottori flourished as an administrative and cultural hub, while farming and coastal trade supported rural life. Because the area remained somewhat remote, many local customs and traditions survived intact, adding to the prefecture’s unique character.
The Meiji era (1868–1912) saw the old domains replaced by modern prefectures, and Inaba and Hōki were joined to form Tottori. Unlike big industrial centers such as Osaka or Tokyo, Tottori stayed mostly rural, but its landscapes began to shine as its real treasure. The windswept Tottori Sand Dunes, shaped over thousands of years, became a symbol of the prefecture and remain one of Japan’s most unusual natural wonders.
The 20th century brought challenges, including the devastating Tottori Earthquake of 1943, but the prefecture rebuilt and carried on. In more recent decades, Tottori has embraced its natural beauty and cultural creativity. It’s the birthplace of manga legends like Shigeru Mizuki (GeGeGe no Kitaro) and Gosho Aoyama (Detective Conan), whose works draw visitors from across Japan.
Today, Tottori is a place where history feels close at hand: castles and temples, windswept dunes, and timeless mountain villages all tell stories of resilience and quiet strength. For travelers, it’s a reminder that sometimes the smallest places have the richest histories.
Beer in Tottori
Tottori is not Tokyo or Osaka, and it doesn’t have dozens of breweries. Instead it has a modest but meaningful number of microbreweries and craft-beer spots that lean into the prefecture’s natural resources and tourism. Local brewers often highlight ingredients like Tottori-grown fruits, mountain spring water, and local culinary pairings (e.g., seafood and rice-based dishes).
Beer in Tottori doesn’t have a long heritage like sake does; sake is deeply embedded in the region’s history of fermentation, good water, rice, and seasonal foods. Tottori is rich in traditional breweries (shuzo) making sake : breweries like Suwa Shuzo in Chizu (established 1859) are part of that tradition.
One interesting early touchpoint is found at Inata Honten, a sake brewery in Yonago. In the late 19th century (shortly after the end of the feudal era), Inata built a beer factory using German techniques. This suggests that experiments with beer brewing in Tottori were tried fairly early, though not necessarily continuously.
At the time of writing, Tottori has one of the lowest number of craft beer breweries in Japan with only eight.
