Hachijo Oni (八丈興発)

The history traces back to 1853, the same year Commodore Perry arrived at Uraga. Shoemon Tanso, a merchant from Akune in Kagoshima, was exiled to Hachijo-jima Island for the crime of smuggling. At that time, the islanders consumed doburoku (unrefined sake) made from miscellaneous grains.

Upon seeing sweet potatoes on the island, Shoemon told the locals that in Kyushu, this crop was used to brew spirits. He sent for a distillation apparatus from his hometown and taught the islanders how to make shochu, marking the birth of shochu production on Hachijo-jima. Because of this historical legacy, shochu textbooks recognize the Izu Islands as a primary region for sweet potato shochu, alongside Kagoshima and Southern Miyazaki.