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Saijo Sakagura Street

Little knownBarely documented in English. This is the kind of place the site exists for.

Researched and written by Hinato

Saijosake breweriessoft-water brewingbrick chimneysHigashihiroshima

Photo: Lumi iori / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0) · original

The line outside Saijo Sakagura Street, if there is one, is usually a better sign than a review score.

Saijo is named alongside Fushimi in Kyoto and Nada in Hyogo as one of the three great sake districts of Japan, and unlike the other two its breweries are all within a few minutes' walk of the station. Seven of them stand along one street, each announced by a red brick chimney and white plaster walls with black-tiled bases, and they are working breweries rather than preserved ones.

The technique that made the town was soft-water brewing, developed here in the Meiji period because Saijo's water is soft and the existing methods assumed hard. The buildings are listed by the Japanese ICOMOS committee among the country's twentieth-century heritage. Most breweries have a shop with tasting, wells along the street give free spring water, and volunteer guides walk the street free on Sundays and on the tenth of the month.

Before you eat

Serving hours

Street open at all times | Brewery shops keep their own hours

Closed: Street open year-round | Brewery shops have their own rest days

What it costs

Free street | Tastings and purchases priced by each brewery

Best time to go

Year-round | October for the Sake Festival | Winter for the brewing season

Time to allow

2–3 hours

Access route

Access notes

Saijo-honmachi, Higashihiroshima, along the street south of JR Saijo Station on the Sanyo Line — the breweries are 5–a short walk. The street is free to walk. Seven breweries operate direct shops with tasting and their own opening hours and rest days. Free volunteer guide walks run on Sundays and on the tenth of each month. The Saijo Sake Festival is held over a weekend in October and draws large crowds.

Beyond the guidebook

**Seven breweries, one street, five minutes from the station.** That density is the reason to come here rather than to Fushimi or Nada, and it makes this a rare walkable sake town. **Free guided walks on Sundays and the tenth.** Volunteers, no charge, and they get you into places and stories the street front does not show. **Drink the well water.** Wells along the street run soft spring water, free, and it is the reason the town's brewing method exists. **Soft-water brewing was invented here.** In the Meiji period, because Saijo's water would not work with the hard-water methods of the time. That technical fact is the town's whole claim. **The October festival is enormous.** A weekend of sake from breweries across Japan, and the town is unrecognisable. Wonderful, but not the visit if you want the street.

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