Masataka Taketsuru | |
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 Masataka Taketsuru and his wife Rita | |
| Born | 竹鶴 政孝 たけつる まさたか 20 June 1894 |
| Died | 29 August 1979(1979-08-29) (aged 85) Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan |
| Nationality | Japanese |
| Alma mater | University of Glasgow Osaka University |
| Known for | Founder ofNikka Whisky |
| Spouse(s) | Rita Taketsuru (1920.01.08－1961.01.17, her death) |
Masataka Taketsuru (竹鶴 政孝,Taketsuru Masataka, 1894–1979) was a Japanese chemist and businessman. He is known as the founder of Japan'swhisky industry andNikka Whisky Distilling.
Born to a family that had owned asake brewery since 1733, he traveled toScotland in 1918 to study organic chemistry and distilling. He then returned to Japan establishing a whisky distillery atSuntory and founded his own distilling company, Nikka Whisky, in 1934.
Masataka Taketsuru was born on June 20, 1894, inTakehara, Hiroshima, to a family that had owned asake brewery since 1733.
In December 1918, he arrived inScotland and enrolled at theUniversity of Glasgow, where he studiedorganic chemistry in the summer of 1919.[1] Taketsuru studied under Thomas Stewart Patterson, the Gardiner Chair of Chemistry.
In April 1919, Taketsuru began his apprenticeship atLongmorn distillery inStrathspey, Scotland, and then in July at James Calder & Co.'s Bo'ness distillery in the Lowlands region.[2] On 8 January 1920, he marriedJessie Roberta "Rita" Cowan of Middlecroft,Kirkintilloch, despite opposition from both their families. Initially, they lived inCampbeltown and his last apprenticeship began in May 1920 atHazelburn distillery (purchased in 1920 by Mackie & Co., then owners ofSpringbank) before moving to Japan later in November 1920 viaNew York andSeattle.[3]
After returning to Japan, Taketsuru worked at Kotobukiya, which would later becomeSuntory, where he helped establish a whisky distillery just outside of Kyoto. In 1934 he founded his own distilling company, Dai Nippon Kaju K.K., inYoichi on the northern Japanese island ofHokkaido. He believed that this part of Japan was the most similar to Scotland. He later renamed the companyNikka. 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.[3]
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