Sake Tasting in Fushimi

After visiting Fushimi Inari-Taisha, my parents and I wanted to experience another one of Fushimi's attractions --- it's sake! I did not know this until reading Wikipedia, but apparently, Fushimi is known for having good spring water, which makes it an ideal location to distill sake. Today, Fushimi is the second greatest producer of sake in Japan and this is where the sake company Gekkeikan was founded! 

Fushimi is also famous for it's association with Sakamoto Ryoma (坂本龍馬). Ryoma "was a prominent figure in the movement to overthrow the Tokugawa shogunate during the Bakumatsu period in Japan. One of his most noted accomplishments during this period was the negotiation of peace between Choshu and Satsuma, two powerful provinces that had long been hostile to each other, and then unite them against the Bakufu, the government that supported the Tokugawa shogun." (Wikipedia)   Apparently, Ryoma stayed in Fushimi at some point.

We walked around this little sake producing town for a little while, hoping to visit some distilleries and try some sake. Unfortunately, we were very disappointed that majority of the distilleries were closed due to the New Years holiday! What a bummer! We were annoyed at first, but right as we were going to call it quits, we stumbled upon Kizakura Kappa sake, which was open for business. Hooray! 

Ancient sake brewery, which is still producing sake

Sake distillery

A famous sake brand

Learning about sake production

The distillery wasn't open, but the Kizakura Kappa museum was open. We walked through it, learning about the whole sake production process. It was quite interesting! After we completed the museum, my parents and I indulged with a sake tasting. Kizakura had three sakes on offer, so we got a sample of each one to taste. I'm not a big sake drinker, but I had fun tasting the sake. 

A selection of Kappa sake

A trio of sake to taste

Our afternoon in Fushimi was not as exciting as our morning (Fushimi Inari Taisho), but it was still a lot of fun. The town is a blend of modern and old, which from an aesthetic standpoint is quite interesting. It was a total bummer that most of the sake distilleries were closed, but what can you do? C'est la vie. Still, we made the best of it and managed to taste some sake and learn about the whole sake making processing. Not too shabby!