are five groups of Sake breweries in the cities of Kobe

Kobe

, pronounced , is the fifth-largest city in Japan and is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture on the southern side of the main island of Honshū, approximately west of Osaka...

 and Nishinomiya

Nishinomiya, Hyogo

is a city located in Hyōgo, Japan, between the cities of Ōsaka and Kōbe. On April 1, 2005, the city of Nishinomiya celebrated its 80th anniversary. It is best known as the home of Kōshien Stadium, where the Hanshin Tigers baseball team plays home games and where Japan's annual high school baseball...

, Hyōgo Prefecture

Hyogo Prefecture

is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region on Honshū island. The capital is Kobe.The prefecture's name was previously alternately spelled as Hiogo.- History :...

, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. It is the largest sake producing region in Japan, with breweries in the area accounting for just over one quarter of the sake production in the entire country.

History

Records show that Sake production first started in Nada nearly 700 years ago, in 1330. .

However, the beginning of Nada Sake's rise to popularity is often said to be when Bunzaemon Zakoya moved to the area from Itami City

Itami, Hyogo

is a city located in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan.As of 2008, the city had an estimated population of 194,488 and a population density of 7,790 persons per km². The total area is 24.97 km².The center of Itami became a wealthy town by the middle of Sengoku period...

 and started a brewery there during the Kan'ei period. The rise of Nada's Sake coincided with the rise of the Tokugawa shogunate

Tokugawa shogunate

The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the and the , was a feudal regime of Japan established by Tokugawa Ieyasu and ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family. This period is known as the Edo period and gets its name from the capital city, Edo, which is now called Tokyo, after the name was...

, which had barrels of Sake shipped to Edo

Edo

, also romanized as Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of the Japanese capital Tokyo, and was the seat of power for the Tokugawa shogunate which ruled Japan from 1603 to 1868...

 aboard ships.

Many breweries in the region were heavily damaged in the Great Hanshin earthquake

Great Hanshin earthquake

The Great Hanshin earthquake, or Kobe earthquake, was an earthquake that occurred on Tuesday, January 17, 1995, at 05:46 JST in the southern part of Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. It measured 6.8 on the moment magnitude scale , and Mj7.3 on JMA magnitude scale. The tremors lasted for approximately 20...

 in 1995, but most have recovered and continue to produce sake.

The Five Villages

Nada's Sake breweries are divided into five . These are:

• Nishi-gō (西郷): Nada-ku, Kobe
  Nada-ku, Kobe
  is one of 9 wards of Kobe in Japan. It has an area of 31.4 km², and a population of 129,095 .A leading national university in Japan, Kobe University, is located in this ward, as is the city's Oji Zoo....
  
  
• Mikage-gō (御影郷): Higashinada-ku, Kobe
  Higashinada-ku, Kobe
  is one of 9 wards of Kobe in Japan. It has an area of 30.36 km², and a population of 207,146 . South of the Hanshin line, it is also home to some notable sake brewing areas, including Uozaki and Mikage.-Railways:...
  
  
• Uozaki-gō (魚崎郷): Higashinada-ku, Kobe
  Higashinada-ku, Kobe
  is one of 9 wards of Kobe in Japan. It has an area of 30.36 km², and a population of 207,146 . South of the Hanshin line, it is also home to some notable sake brewing areas, including Uozaki and Mikage.-Railways:...
  
  
• Nishinomiya-gō (西宮郷): Nishinomiya
  Nishinomiya, Hyogo
  is a city located in Hyōgo, Japan, between the cities of Ōsaka and Kōbe. On April 1, 2005, the city of Nishinomiya celebrated its 80th anniversary. It is best known as the home of Kōshien Stadium, where the Hanshin Tigers baseball team plays home games and where Japan's annual high school baseball...
  
  
• Imazu-gō (今津郷): Nishinomiya
  Nishinomiya, Hyogo
  is a city located in Hyōgo, Japan, between the cities of Ōsaka and Kōbe. On April 1, 2005, the city of Nishinomiya celebrated its 80th anniversary. It is best known as the home of Kōshien Stadium, where the Hanshin Tigers baseball team plays home games and where Japan's annual high school baseball...
  
  

Characteristics of Nada Sake

Nada's Sake has four distinct characteristics that make it unique from sake produced in other regions.

• Yamada Nishiki
  Yamada Nishiki
  Yamada Nishiki is a short grain Japanese rice, famous for its use in high quality sake. It is particularly desired by sake brewers for its ability to absorb water and dissolve easily....
  
   rice: The most famous sake rice in Japan, it is well-suited for growing sake due to its dense white core, low protein content, and consistent size and texture.
• Miyamizu water: A hard water that flows off of Mount Rokkō
  Mount Rokko
  is a name of a group of mountains in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. This mountain is one of Hyōgo 50 mountains, Kinki 100 mountains, and also one of the 300 famous mountains in Japan.- Outline :...
  
   and results in strong, thick Sake.
• Tamba
  Tamba, Hyogo
  is a city located in Hyōgo, Japan.The city was formed on November 1, 2004 from the merger of all six towns of the former Hikami District: Aogaki, Ichijima, Kaibara, Kasuga, Sannan and Hikami....
  
   Tōji: Tamba city has a long tradition of Sake production, and many of the brewmasters from the area have moved to Nada.
• Rokkō oroshi: Cold winds blowing down from Mt. Rokkō are used as a natural coolant to slow the fermentation process.

External links

• Nada-Gogō Brewers Association (Japanese)
• The Sake of Nada (English)