are five area-based groupings of

sake Sake, , or saki, also referred to as Japanese rice wine, is an alcoholic beverage of Japanese origin made by fermenting rice that has been polished to remove the bran. Despite the name ''Japanese rice wine'', sake, and indeed any East Asi ...

breweries in the cities of

Kobe Kobe ( ; , ), officially , is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. With a population of around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's List of Japanese cities by population, seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Port of Toky ...

and

Nishinomiya 270px, Nishinomiya City Hall 270px, Aerial view of Nishinomiya city center 1985 270px, Hirota Shrine is a city located in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 484,368 in 218,948 households and a population density ...

Hyōgo Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Hyōgo Prefecture has a population of 5,469,762 () and a geographic area of . Hyōgo Prefecture borders Kyoto Prefecture to the east, Osaka Prefecture to th ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. 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.The Sake of Nada
"The Nada District", retrieved March 24, 2008 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 and started a brewery there during the

Kan'ei was a after '' Genna'' and before ''Shōhō.'' This period spanned the years from February 1624 through December 1644. The reigning emperors and single empress were , and .Titsingh, Isaac. (1834) ''Annales des empereurs du japon'', p. 411./re ...

period. The rise of Nada's sake coincided with the rise of the

Tokugawa shogunate The Tokugawa shogunate, also known as the was the military government of Japan during the Edo period from 1603 to 1868. The Tokugawa shogunate was established by Tokugawa Ieyasu after victory at the Battle of Sekigahara, ending the civil wars ...

, which had barrels of sake shipped to

Edo Edo (), also romanized as Jedo, Yedo or Yeddo, is the former name of Tokyo. Edo, formerly a (castle town) centered on Edo Castle located in Musashi Province, became the '' de facto'' capital of Japan from 1603 as the seat of the Tokugawa shogu ...

aboard ships.Nadagogo Museum
"Nada sake - the secret of this rare taste", retrieved March 24, 2008 Many breweries in the region were heavily damaged in the

Great Hanshin earthquake The Great Hanshin Earthquake (, ) occurred on January 17, 1995, at 05:46:53 JST in the southern part of Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, including the region of Hanshin. It measured 6.9 on the moment magnitude scale and had a maximum intensity of 7 o ...

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 is one of nine wards of Japan, wards of Kobe, Japan. It has an area of 31.4 km², and a population of 129,095 (2008). A leading national university, Kobe University, is located in this ward, as is the city's Oji Zoo. The Tadao Ando-design ...

* Mikage-gō (御影郷): Higashinada-ku, Kobe * Uozaki-gō (魚崎郷): Higashinada-ku, Kobe * Nishinomiya-gō (西宮郷):

* Imazu-gō (今津郷):

Characteristics of Nada sake

Nada's sake has four distinct characteristics that make it unique from sake produced in other regions. * Yamada Nishiki 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 is the name of a range of mountains in southeastern Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. Outline There is no single mountain or peak called "Rokkō," although the highest peak of the mountains is called , (literally, ''the highest peak of the Rokkō ...

and results in strong, thick sake. * Tanba Tōji: Tamba 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.

References

External links

Nada-Gogō Brewers Association
(Japanese)

(English) {{DEFAULTSORT:Nada-Gogo Organizations based in Hyōgo Prefecture Drink companies of Japan