Nada Sake Breweries (Hakutsuru Sake Brewery Museum)
灘五郷・白鶴酒造資料館
Nada, Japan’s largest sake-producing region, where breweries such as Hakutsuru and Kikumasamune offer free museum visits and tastings.
Nada refers to the coastal districts from eastern Kobe to Nishinomiya: Nishinogo, Mikage, Uozaki, Nishinomiya and Imazu. Water from the “Miyamizu” spring, which flows from the underground of Mount Rokko, combined with Harima rice, produces crisp otokozake (masculine sake), and the region ranks first in Japan for output. The most popular stop is the Hakutsuru Sake Brewery Museum. Housed in a wooden brewery from the Taisho era, it uses life-size figures and tools to recreate the traditional brewing process. At the exit, visitors can taste sake for free and buy limited-edition bottles. The amazake soft-serve ice cream is also popular. Nearby, the Kikumasamune Brewing Memorial Museum and the Kobe Shinzan-kan (Fukuju) can be visited along the way. Most of these museums are free. The Hakutsuru museum is about a 5-minute walk from Hanshin Sumiyoshi Station, or about 10 minutes by Hanshin train from Sannomiya.
Opening hours
Hakutsuru Archives 09:30–16:30 (closed year-end, New Year and Obon)
Nearby sights
- Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art
- Kobe Oji Zoo
- Disaster Reduction and Human Renovation Institution
- Mount Maya Kikuseidai
- Mount Rokko
- Nunobiki Falls
- Kobe Animal Kingdom
- Kobe Nunobiki Herb Gardens & Ropeway