Fushimi Sake District

Fushimi has brewed sake since the sixteenth century and is second only to Nada in Kobe by volume, with around twenty breweries still working in a compact district of black-boarded warehouses along the Uji river canals. The difference between the two districts is the water: Nada's Miyamizu is hard and mineral-rich, giving a firm dry sake, while Fushimi's groundwater is soft, low in minerals, and produces a rounder, softer style - the local name for the water, gokosui, is used as shorthand for it. The Gekkeikan Okura museum occupies an old brewery with the tools of the manual process and a tasting at the end. Kizakura has a small brewery and museum in the same streets. Canal boats run between the warehouses in season. The area also holds Teradaya, an inn with a nineteenth-century history, and the streets are lined with cedar-ball signs that go from green to brown as new sake matures.

What you actually see

• Black-boarded warehouses - about twenty working breweries along the canals.
• Soft water - gokosui producing a rounder style than Nada's hard Miyamizu.
• The Gekkeikan museum - an old brewery with the manual tools and a tasting.
• Cedar-ball signs - hanging spheres that brown as the new sake matures.

When to go

November to March for the brewing season. Half a day.

Honest expectations

Most breweries are working plants and not open - the museums are the access. Tastings are small and charged. The district is spread out along the canals and needs walking. Boat trips are seasonal.

Nearby

Fushimi Inari is north; Byodoin at Uji is south-east.