Japan Heritage story
Itami and Nada: the birthplace of Japan's clear sake
「伊丹諸白」と「灘の生一本」
In the Edo period, brewers in Itami, Nishinomiya and Nada shipped the finest sake to Edo and set the standard for the clear sake Japan drinks today. Below Mount Rokko, Nada Gogo is still Japan's biggest sake district, making about one in four bottles of Japanese sake.
Key facts
- Theme
- Castles, Sea and waterside, Festivals and rituals, Food and sake
- Era
- Edo
- Region
- Kansai
- Official name in Japanese
- 「伊丹諸白」と「灘の生一本」
- Official subtitle in Japanese
- 下り酒が生んだ銘醸地、伊丹と灘五郷
- Official area (in Japanese)
- 兵庫県（伊丹市、神戸市、西宮市、尼崎市、芦屋市）
The story
Itami is known as the birthplace of clear sake. Its brewers used polished white rice throughout, and their Itami Morohaku was prized in Edo. Brewers in Nishinomiya and Nada learned from Itami and added the gifts of Mount Rokko: Miyamizu, a famous well water from Nishinomiya, waterwheels on fast mountain streams to polish rice, and the cold winter wind that cooled their breweries. Skilled brewers from Tanba perfected winter brewing, and Yamada Nishiki, the famous sake rice, was developed in Hyogo in 1936.
Special ships called taru-kaisen carried the sake to Edo, about a million barrels a year by the end of the Edo period, 80% of the city's sake. Each year the ships raced to bring the new sake first, and barrels were wrapped in straw to survive rough seas. Rich brewers spent their wealth on art, schools and architecture, shaping the modern culture of the Hanshin area.
What to see
- Old Okada House and Brewery: Japan's oldest surviving sake brewery, in the old merchant town of Itami.Google Maps 旧岡田家住宅・酒蔵 (opens in a new tab)
- Hakutsuru Sake Brewery Museum: an old brewery in Kobe's Mikage showing how sake was made.Google Maps 白鶴酒造資料館 (opens in a new tab)
- Miyamizu birthplace monument: the well water that made Nada's crisp sake.Google Maps 宮水発祥之地 (opens in a new tab)
- Yodoko Guest House: a brewer's villa designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.Google Maps ヨドコウ迎賓館 (opens in a new tab)
Plan your trip with the Hyogo prefecture guide and see more museums.
Good to know
- Go to a kura-biraki, a brewery open day, to taste new sake and hear traditional brewing songs.
- Visit the Hakutsuru Fine Art Museum, a brewer's art collection with two national treasures.
- Explore the area's 20 sake-related museums, many in old breweries.
Questions travellers ask
What is Nada Gogo?
Five sake districts stretching 12 km from Nishinomiya to Kobe, together Japan's largest sake producing area.
What is Miyamizu?
Well water from Nishinomiya, at the foot of Mount Rokko, famous for making crisp, dry sake.
Where it comes from
More heritage stories from the same area
- Ako: the town that made Japan's finest salt
- Awaji: the first island in Japan's creation myth
- Inaba and Tajima: landscapes made by the Sea of Japan wind
- Kitamaebune: the merchant ships that made Japan's port towns rich
- Saigoku 33 Kannon Pilgrimage: Japan's 1,300-year journey of the heart
- Tamba-Sasayama: a castle town in a folk song
- The Kanmon Strait: retro ports on both shores
- The Silver Carriage Road: 73 km to Hyogo's mines
- The Six Ancient Kilns: pottery born and raised in Japan
Local foods from the same area
Crafts from the same area
Sources
We checked the facts on this page against these sources.