Kanpai to Hiroshima’s sake town, Saijo which is home to nine sake breweries each with their own tasting rooms. Seven of these sake breweries are located in close proximity to Saijo train station, referred to as Sake Brewery Street (Sakagura-dori street – 西条酒蔵通り).
We’ve stayed in Hiroshima a few times and on our most recent visit, we took a 30 minute local train from Hiroshima to Saijo to do a mini sake brewery crawl.
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A very under the radar Hiroshima thing to do, we were the only Westerners on the weekday that we visited so it felt kind of special and the antithesis of say Kyoto or Tokyo’s overtourism.
We tried several sakes, visited several breweries and even spotted sake manhole covers and the cute local Saijo mascot, Nonta. Here is our ultimate guide to Saijo Sake Brewery Street.
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How to get to Saijo Sake Street near Hiroshima
From Hiroshima
Saijo Station is located just 35 minutes by train from Hiroshima Station on the JR Sanyo Line. The walk to the start of Sakagura-dori Street / Sake Brewery Street takes 5 minutes.
From Osaka
From Shin Osaka Station, take the shinkansen bullet train to Hiroshima Station (around 90 minutes), and then board the local JR Sanyo Line train for 35 minutes.
Saijo is very compact and easy to walk around – as you leave the station, you can see the large chimneys from the sake breweries at the start of the Sakagura-dori Street.
Saijo Tourist Information Center / Sake Street trails
When you arrive, our advice would be to head to either the small visitor center in Saijo Station or the larger Saijo Sakagura-dori Street Tourist Information Center which is in the shadow of the sake breweries.
Here, the staff were very helpful and spoke English and they gave us various Sake Brewery Street maps and trails – at certain times of the year, there are also special offers or festivals.
During our November visit, there was a Sake Street Tipsy Walk coupon whereby you paid 1,800 Yen for 7 coupons / tickets which could be redeemed at various sake breweries.
So for instance, one of your seven coupons was enough to get a seasonal sake tasting at say Sanyotsuru brewery or a 100ml bottle to take home from Saijotsuru – or use some coupons on non sake treats like doriyaki at Sakuraya Japanese sweet shop.
It is such good value but please note such DIY ‘Tipsy Walk’ offers are seasonal – otherwise, just walk to the breweries you want to visit and pay for samples / bottles as you go along.
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Brief history of Saijo
Home to some of the world’s oldest and most revered Japanese sake breweries, Saijo is a small town home that has been brewing amazing sake since the 17th century.
Saijo sits on a special basin that is around 300 meters above sea level, which allows for ideal weather for sake making.
Sake has been made in Saijo since around 1650 but it wasn’t until the last 100 years that its international reputation as one of the best sake regions in Japan was cemented.
Saijo is also blessed with ideal sake brewing water that comes from local wells combined with pure rice grown in Hiroshima – such is the high quality of sake here, there is a special guild of the region’s master brewers, referred to as the Hiroshima Toji.
Today, there are nine sake breweries still in Saijo:
- Hakubotan
- Sanyotsuru (note this is one of two breweries located a little way away from Sake Brewery street)
- Sakurafubuki – 13km out of town
- Kamotsuru
- Fukubijin
- Kamoizumi
- Kirei
- Saijotsuru
Saijo sake mascot, Nonta (Higashihiroshima)
One of the best known facts about Japan is their love of cartoon mascots and Higashihiroshima is no different.
Nonta is the tourism mascot of Higashihiroshima and features on lots of leaflets, signs and even manholes in Saijo (more on this in a moment).
Maybe it was all the sake we’d been drinking, but we thought Nonta was one of the more cute Japanese mascots we’d seen so bought a small plushie which we then took around the remaining breweries as a good luck charm!
You will also find a special “Nonta postbox” and Nonta postcards can be purchased from Saijo Sakagura-dori Street Tourist Information Center.
Saijo Sake manhole covers
Here at Plan My Japan, we love sharing cool and colourful Japanese manhole covers so we were utterly overjoyed when we discovered there were several sake manhole covers on the streets of Saijo.
We even found some fire hydrants with Nonta the mascot on – so cool!
Visiting Saijo / Sake experience
We spent around half a day in Saijo – as it is compact, it is very walkable and 7 of the 9 sake breweries here are within 10 minutes walk of Saijo Station.
Not many tourists seem to venture to Saijo which is a shame as it nice town and the ultimate adventure for sake lovers – drinking at the source has never been so much fun, the quality and range of sake is immense.
On our visit, we started by getting maps and information about the history of the area before diving straight into the sake.
It should be said we visited Saijo on a weekday afternoon so we were the only drinkers / visitors in some breweries that day – we loved the experience!
Kamotsuru Brewery
We tried sake at several breweries including the Kamotsuru brewery 賀茂鶴酒造株式会社 本社 which has a really good sake museum (free to visit) and a very plush gift shop.
It is the largest sake brewery in the region and probably has the best tasting room / bar set up of all the sake producers in Saijo.
On certain days, there are tours too and lots of photo opportunities including sake barrels, brewing vats and a reproduction of rice malt room you can walk into.
Kamotsuru began brewing sake in 1873 and is known for its Daiginjo gold sake, named after the sakura petal-shaped flecks of gold leaf added to every sake bottle.
It is also famous as the sake that Barack Obama drank with the Japanese Prime Minister at Sukiyabashi Jiro of (Jira Dreams of Sushi).
Here at Kamotsuru Brewery, you can buy samples at the bar or take home beautifully packaged bottles as gifts – we did both! Prices were really reasonable too.
Saijotsuru Brewery
Very different from our Kamotsuru, Sanyotsuru Brewery 西條鶴醸造株式会社 本店 is a short walk away from the main Sake Brewery Street and it almost felt like drinking sake in someone’s living room.
Established in 1904, this is a traditional and very small sake brewery that hasn’t changed its techniques in decades. We tried a 500 Yen tasting tray comprising three different sakes, each served in a totally different style of sake cup.
Full of character and like taking a step back in time, you can also buy sake flavored gelato here and Saijotsuru has won several gold medals at the Monde Selection so you know you are in for a sublime sake session here.
Plan My Japan guides to Japanese convenience stores / ‘konbinis’ featuring:
– 7-Eleven
– FamilyMart
– Lawson
– Daily Yamazaki
– Seicomart
– 7-Eleven smoothies
– Convenience store egg sandwiches
– Lawson fried karaage/chicken nuggets
– 7-Eleven’s famous craft beer shop
– 7-Eleven alcohol guide
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