Saijo Sake District

Hiroshima Saijo (広島西条) is one of the famous sake districts in Japan. The other two are Hyogo Nada (兵庫灘) and Kyoto Fushimi (京都伏見). Saijo is the birthplace of 三浦 仙三郎, the father of ginjo sake. He first proposed using soft water to make ginjo sake in 1887.

There were 7 breweries within walking distance from the Sajio station (one other had ceased operations)

Near the station, there was the Matsuo shrine (松尾神社). This was a branch of the famous Matsuo shrine in Kyoto. Prayers were usually made just before the brewing season.

Website: http://saijosake.com/index.html

France-Ya 佛蘭西屋

Saijo (西条) is one of the top 3 famous sake district in Japan. We visited one of the largest brewery Kamotsuru (賀茂鶴酒造). As it was raining, we decided to go for lunch after that. We had to run to France-Ya (佛蘭西屋), a restaurant owned by the same brewery.

Only the Japanese restaurant on level was opened that day. Its specialty was the sake hotpot (美酒鍋).

The waitress poured about 500ml of sake into the pot. She did the whole cooking for us.

Hiroshima had some nice sake rices such as the Hiroshima Nishiki (広島錦).

Here is an external shot of the restaurant. It was still drizzling after lunch.

Tabelog: https://tabelog.com/hiroshima/A3407/A340701/34002971/