Welcome to the world of the
long-cherished tradition of sake brewing.
The Kiku-Masamune Sake Brewery Museum is dedicated to sharing with you knowledge of the origins of sake brewing. It brings you the true joy of knowledge by providing information and hands-on experience regarding the world of sake brewing, as well as its past, present and future, including:
- The process of sake brewing, and the tools used for it;
- Techniques, water, rice, and the natural environment, which are all indispensable for sake brewing in Nada;
- Brewers’ enthusiasm for and devotion to the tradition of sake brewing; and
- New ways to enjoy sake and the culture it embraces.
Museum History
The starting point of the former Sake Brewery Museum was a brewery building constructed on the site of the principal residence of the head Kano family in 1659, which was relocated and for preservation purposes at its current location in 1960, and opened to the general public as a museum.
The former museum exhibited items collectively designated as important tangible folk cultural property by the national government under the name of “Nada-based Sake Brewery’s Equipment,” as well as other small tools. As a museum demonstrating the history of sake brewing to a contemporary audience, it attracted 50,000 visitors annually.
On January 17, 1995, however, the former Sake Brewery Museum was destroyed by the Great Hanshin Earthquake. A bright spot amid this tragedy was that almost every single piece of sake brewery equipment and all the small tools exhibited there were found and retrieved carefully by hand, and proved to be undamaged or restorable.
After extensive reconstruction works, the museum was reopened four years later, on January 25, 1999. The reborn museum building, with two stories above ground and a total floor area of 1,400 m2 (including a preexisting reference room), has a fire-resistant and anti-earthquake structure. It has the appearance of a traditional brewery, with the roofs tiled in the long-established hongawarabuki style, and the outer walls and street fences paneled with charred cedar boards. On many spots inside the museum building, you can see reused pillars and beams dating back over 400 years ago, which were used for the former Sake Brewery Museum. These days, the museum invites more than 100,000 visitors to the world of sake brewing annually.
Fully experience our passionate enthusiasm for the tradition of sake brewing, unchangingly passed down over more than 350 years.
