In 1958, three family companies merged to form Sanwa (san for ‘three’, wa for ‘harmony’). A fourth family joined the following year, and the newly formed company produced a diverse range of sake, wine, and shochu. In 1979, iichiko debuted as a shochu made from 100% barley and distilled only once – a premium class of shochu known as honkaku shochu. Today, iichiko is the leading brand of barley shochu in Japan.