30 Years After the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake

To all the readers of Sake Talk, we look forward to seeing you again this year! Last New Year’s Day was marked by the 2024 Noto Earthquake in Japan. We in Kansai region were also surprised by the shaking of the earthquake. A year has passed since then, and we can only pray that the recovery of the affected areas will proceed. And then, on January 17, it will be 30 years since the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake occurred in 1995. In this issue, we introduce about the situation of the Sake Museum at that time.

At 5:46 a.m. on January 17, 1995, a magnitude 7.3 earthquake centered in the northern part of Awaji Island, Hyogo Prefecture occurred. Nishinomiya City, where the Sake Museum is located, was also hit by a major tremor of intensity 7. The Tatsuuma-Honke Brewing Co. Ltd. was severely damaged, including the collapse of the wooden sake brewery that was in operation at the time, but was able to maintain sake production with the Rokko-gura brewery made by concrete that had been operating since a year before the disaster. However, in the Sake Museum, the Sakagura-kan collapsed. It was the brick brewery that had been in use since the Meiji period (1868-1912), where the sake brewing process was exhibited.

After the disaster, the Sake Museum was forced to close, and the repair operation started. Electricity was restored on January 19, and work began to clean up the collapsed bricks from the next day. From January 23, they started to rescue of the sake brewing tools using heavy machinery. Water supply was restored on February 22, and the work that collect the sake brewing tools that were exhibited at the Sakagura-kan was finished on February 28. And then, gas was restored, and air conditioners were available on March 13. Finally, on March 18, 61 days after the disaster, the spring exhibition of Sasabe Shintarō’s collection about cherry blossoms was started at the Kinen-kan. However, recovery of the Sakagura-kan was impossible, so the sake brewing tools were only exhibited at the lobby of the Kinen-kan until 1998, the new Sakagura-kan, using the brewery that barely survived the collapse was open.

At the current Sakagura-kan, there is an exhibition named “Room of Memories the Earthquake”, and you can see the sake brewing tools that were severely damaged by the earthquake. As it will soon be 30 years since the disaster, we now have fewer opportunities to talk about those days. Please take this opportunity to see the exhibition. In Japan, Nankai Trough Earthquake is predicted to occur, so we would like to ask you to check evacuation sites and emergency preparedness once again. Please check back for next month’s article!