Hello! This is the season of cherry blossoms and just walking outside makes us feel better. Then, Nishinomiya City, where the Sake Museum is located, celebrates its 100th anniversary as a city this year. Various celebration events will be held from today, so please participate. Now, sake breweries, one of the leading industries in this city, also have a deep connection with the city. Therefore, in this article, we will commemorate the anniversary and introduce the relationship between the city and sake breweries.
Nishinomiya City was founded 100 years ago in 1925, when the city was incorporated on April 1, 1925. It became the 5th city in Hyogo Prefecture after Kobe, Himeji, Amagasaki, and Akashi, and the 101st city in Japan. After it became the city, various maintenance was performed, and it was necessary to merge with neighboring towns and villages. The city area was expanded by merging with Imazu-cho, Shiba-mura, and Taisha-mura in 1933, Kōtō-mura in 1941, Kawaragi-mura in 1942, and Naruo-mura, Shiose-mura, and Yamaguchi-mura in 1951. As a result, Nishinomiya City has become one of the most prosperous cities in Japan in the sake brewing industry, with the Nishinomiya-go and Imazu-go among the Nada-go-gō, the largest sake brewing areas in Japan.
at the time of construction
Let’s see the relationship between Nishinomiya City and local sake brewer. The Nishinomiya City Hall, established in 1925, was originally the building of the former Nishinomiya Town Hall when the city was first established. However, it was decided to build a new city hall, and Tatsuuma Kichizaemon XⅢ, a sake brewer, donated funds for the construction of the new one, which opened in October 1928. Other donations to the city by sake brewers were made as well, Kichizaemon also donated funds for the construction of a library, which was built south of the city hall. In addition, Tatsuuma Etsuzō Ⅲ of the Tatsuuma Etsuzo Shōten (now Hakutaka Co., Ltd.) donated funds for the establishment of the Nishinomiya Town Clinic (later the Municipal Central Hospital) and the construction of a civic center, and Nishinomiya Shuzō Brewery (now Nihonsakari Co., Ltd.) donated funds for the construction of Nishinomiya Civic Sports Ground in 1940, as part of its 50th anniversary celebration.
In this way, part of the urban infrastructure of Nishinomiya City was developed with the support of sake brewers. This is a history unique to the city, which is home to the large sake brewing areas of Nishinomiya-go and Imazu-go. It also seems as if the sake brewers in the Nishinomiya City area were grateful for the blessings of miyamizu and other benefits they received for their development and were returning the favor to the local people through their donations to the city. We hope that the city and sake breweries will continue to prosper for many years to come.
There was a time when the sake tax was the number one source of tax revenue in Japan!