Museums

Hakushika Memorial Museum of Sake, lovingly nicknamed “Sake Museum”, was established as Japan’s one and only museum of sake and sakura (cherry blossom trees) in 1982. The museum consists of two buildings, the Kinen-kan and the Sakagura-kan. In Nishinomiya, the unique city of sake, this museum was established with the purpose of passing down the history of traditional sake brewing to future generations as a part of our living cultural heritage. Over one million people have visited the museum since its opening in 1982, including local students to learn about sake brewing as a local industry. The museum utilizes an old sake brewery which brings the city of sake of the past to life, and preserves the traditional sake brewing tools which are gradually disappearing from the practice as well as historical materials related to sake. The history and the culture of sake and cherry blossom trees, including pieces from the Nishinomiya City Sasabe Sakura Collection entrusted by Nishinomiya City, are exhibited at the museum to be studied and enjoyed by visitors. It is our wish to create a space where our guests can have new discoveries and encounters at the museum as well as relax and enjoy themselves.

Exhibitions at the Kinen-Kan are captioned in English, and the Sakagura-Kan has an English audio guide that visitors can use with their smartphones. On the official homepage, the curators in charge of sake and sakura (cherry blossoms) update some articles in an effort to promote interest in sake and sakura. Each columns are translated into English on the official English website. We are making efforts to disseminate information to people overseas so that they can widely understand Japan's proud culture of sake, which is a cultural heritage of Japanese people's daily life, and sakura, which has fascinated people since ancient times.
Dining and shopping can be enjoyed at the adjacent shop/restaurant “Hakushika Classics”.

Main works

The Kinen-Kan has three exhibition rooms: the Planned Exhibition Room, the Sake Reference Room and the Sasabe Sakura Reference Room. These rooms are subject to change depending on the content of the exhibitions.
This work was painted to celebrate the completion of the Tatsuuma-Honke Brewing Co., Ltd. (the brewer of Hakushika) headquarters in 1917, this work depicts a hermit called Jurōjin with a white deer. The scroll behind his head describes a person's life span, and the peach in his hand signifies longevity, making this an auspicious subject for the painting.

The Sasabe Sakura Collection (entrusted to this museum by Nishinomiya City) is one of Japan’s foremost collections of materials regarding cherry blossom trees collected by Sasabe Shintaro, who devoted his life to protecting and nurturing indigenous Japanese cherry blossom trees. Sasabe was particularly fond of collecting works of the 'Mikuma school', four painters who were active in the middle and late Edo period. The most distinctive feature is that they chose only cherry blossoms as their subjects and tried to draw the variety and appearance of them in detail. The collection is not limited to hanging scrolls and paintings, but also includes many ceramics and kimonos with cherry blossom designs.