Guide &08400404202631; 4 August 2026

Saijo Sake Town: A Half Day from Hiroshima Among Seven Breweries

Saijo is one of the three great sake towns of Japan, alongside Nada and Fushimi. It is thirty-five minutes from Hiroshima Station, seven breweries stand within a few minutes’ walk of the station exit, and it receives a fraction of the visitors the other two do.

That last part is the whole point. In Fushimi you queue. In Saijo you walk out of the station, cross a road, and you are standing in front of a working brewery with a red brick chimney above it.

Why the breweries are all in one place

Sake needs good water, and Saijo sits on a basin with the right kind of it — soft water, which produced a gentler style of brewing that Hiroshima made its name on. When the railway arrived, the breweries clustered around the station to ship out, and they never moved.

The result is a street you can walk end to end in fifteen minutes with seven separate breweries on it. Look for the white plaster walls with black lattice patterning, and the tall red brick chimneys — those two things are the visual signature of the street, and they are why photographers come even when they do not drink.

How to actually taste the sake

This is the part guidebooks get wrong. You can wander the street for free, but several of the breweries do not pour on weekdays. Turning up unplanned on a Tuesday can mean a nice walk and no sake at all.

The seven-brewery tour

RunsMondays and Fridays, 13:00–15:00

Priceroughly ¥3,300–4,500

LanguageEnglish guide

CoversAll seven breweries, with a tasting at each

Two hours, an English-speaking guide, and a pour at every stop — daiginjo, junmai, nigori, so you find out which style is actually yours rather than guessing. Because it runs on the days some breweries would otherwise be closed to tasting, this is genuinely the only straightforward way to drink at all seven in one afternoon.

Check dates for the seven-brewery sake tasting tour 2 hours · English guide · from Saijo Station

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There is also a shorter three-brewery version running on weekday mornings, about ninety minutes, which needs booking at least three days ahead. Take it if you have a train to catch.

One brewery, properly

If a walking tour is not your thing, the Saijotsuru brewery tour takes you through the rooms where the sake is actually made, in English, for about ¥3,300. Reservation only, and it does not appear on the big booking platforms — which is exactly why it is quiet.

Kamotsuru, for free

Kamotsuru was founded in 1873 and pioneered daiginjo brewing in Hiroshima. Its Tokusei Gold was the sake poured at the 2014 state dinner for President Obama, which the brewery has never entirely stopped mentioning, and fairly so.

You can walk through the brewery for free, 10:00 to 18:00, with English signage on the main exhibits. A three-glass tasting set costs about ¥500. If you only have an hour in Saijo, do this and skip the rest.

Eat the hotpot

Bishonabe is the local dish and it exists nowhere else in any meaningful quantity. It was brewery workers’ food: meat and vegetables cooked with sake instead of water and seasoned with little more than salt and pepper, because during the brewing season the workers could not use soy sauce and miso without the smell interfering with their palates. It tastes cleaner than it sounds, and it is best in cold weather.

If you can time it: the Sake Festival

2026 datesSaturday 10 October, 10:00–19:00 · Sunday 11 October, 10:00–17:00

WhereSaijo Chuo Park and the brewery street

ScaleAround 1,000 sake labels from across Japan

Sake Matsuri takes over the whole town for one weekend every October. Roughly a thousand different sakes from every prefecture in the country are poured in one park, alongside grilled oysters, koji ramen, sake manju and a portable shrine carried entirely by women.

Two practical warnings. Book accommodation early — Saijo has limited rooms and Hiroshima city hotels fill for that weekend too. And go on the Saturday if you can: it runs two hours later, and Sunday afternoon is when things wind down.

Getting there

JR Sanyo Line from Hiroshima Station to Saijo, about thirty-five minutes, covered by the Japan Rail Pass. The breweries begin roughly a two-minute walk from the south exit. There is a tourist information centre on the second floor of the station where the guided tours meet, and where you can pick up an English map of the street.

Is it worth a half day?

Yes, if You have any interest in sake, or you want a compact Japanese townscape without a crowd. The walking is flat, everything is within one street, and the whole thing works in three hours door to door from Hiroshima.

No, if You do not drink. Unlike a temple or a museum, the tasting is most of the value here, and the street alone is a pleasant twenty minutes rather than an afternoon.

Pairs badly with Miyajima, which needs its own half day at minimum. Pairs well with nothing — Saijo is best as its own unhurried afternoon. If you want a fuller day out of Hiroshima instead, Kure is the other direction and takes about the same time to reach.

Frequently asked

How far is Saijo from Hiroshima?: About 35 minutes by JR Sanyo Line, covered by the Japan Rail Pass. The breweries are a two-minute walk from the station.
Can you visit the Saijo breweries without a tour?: Yes, the street is public and Kamotsuru is free to walk through. But several breweries do not offer tastings on weekdays, so a guided tour is the reliable way to drink at all of them.
How many sake breweries are in Saijo?: Seven, all within walking distance of Saijo Station.
When is the Saijo Sake Festival 2026?: Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 October 2026, centred on Saijo Chuo Park and the brewery street.
Do the tours run in English?: Yes. The seven-brewery and three-brewery tours both use English-speaking guides, and tour information is provided in English.
Is Saijo good for non-drinkers?: Honestly, not especially. The architecture is worth twenty minutes, but the tastings are the reason to make the trip.

Last checked 4 August 2026