Fushimi’s Water and Sake Brewing: Groundwater Quality, Water Absorption by Rice, and the Roles of Rivers and Flood Control

About the Charms of Fushimi-Momoyama

One of the conditions that made Fushimi a sake-producing center is that groundwater can be obtained at the foot of the Momoyama Hills. Sake brewing requires water not only as brewing water but also for washing the rice, soaking it, and washing equipment. Beyond securing a sufficient quantity, water quality is also important to breweries, because the substances dissolved in the water affect fermentation and how the rice breaks down.

The Gokosui at Gokonomiya Shrine is a place to learn about this area’s groundwater. Old shrine traditions tell of the origins of a spring, and today the water is drawn from a well made after the spring’s restoration. To the southwest of the town there are also waterways that were used for boat transport. The groundwater supported brewing, and the rivers supported transport.

The Gokosui was restored in 1982

According to Gokonomiya’s shrine tradition, in 862 fragrant water sprang up within the shrine grounds, and because people who drank it were healed of their illnesses, the shrine was granted the name “Gokonomiya” by Emperor Seiwa. The fragrance and the healing belong to the shrine’s religious origin story; they do not indicate the water’s present quality or any medical efficacy. [16]

The spring dried up sometime after the beginning of the Meiji era and was restored in 1982. According to the shrine, the water is now drawn from 150 meters underground, and its temperature stays at around 17°C throughout the year. In 1985 it was selected by the Environment Agency as one of the 100 Best Waters of Japan. [16, 26]

The Ministry of the Environment describes the area around Gokonomiya as a place blessed with groundwater flowing southwest from the Momoyama Hills. When collecting water, please follow the shrine’s on-site instructions. [26]

Gokonomiya, Hideyoshi, and tea ceremony in Fushimi

Gokonomiya had ties to Toyotomi Hideyoshi even before Fushimi Castle was built. According to the shrine’s history, in 1590 Hideyoshi prayed there for victory in battle, dedicated a sword and a written prayer, and donated shrine lands with a yield of 300 koku. In 1594 the shrine was moved to the northeast inside the castle, as a deity guarding the castle’s kimon, the inauspicious northeast direction. The shrine was returned to its present site in 1605, when Tokugawa Ieyasu built its main hall. The connection between the shrine and the castle followed a concrete sequence of events: prayers and donations, and the relocation of the shrine site. [R3I021]

Separately from the shrine’s traditions concerning the Gokosui, tea gatherings in Fushimi were also recorded in the time of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. The records of tea gatherings introduced here do not by themselves show that the Gokosui was used. A copy of a letter by Kinoshita Hansuke dated Bunroku 2 (1593) mentions a tea gathering to which Hideyoshi invited feudal lords to Fushimi, and it also shows that Horio Tatewaki was in charge of hospitality as the assigned host on duty. Horio Tatewaki is Horio Yoshiharu, who served Hideyoshi and later built Matsue Castle. Tea gatherings to which daimyo were invited involved not only people who prepared the tea but also people responsible for arranging the venue and hospitality. [R3I002]

At Gokonomiya, activities to preserve the Gokosui are connected with the tea ceremony. The teahouse Kyūkōken in the shrine grounds is a building from Momoyama-chō Tateuri that the shrine received; an entrance, a waiting area, a mizuya, and other spaces were added, and it was completed in 2006. A mizuya is a room where tea utensils are washed and preparations for the tea gathering are made. The teahouse is used for the tea offering festival and for the monthly tea gatherings of the Gokosui Preservation Society. A place that passes down a famous spring has not only facilities for drawing water but also a space for preparing tea and welcoming guests. [R3I001]

The groundwater used by sake breweries is affected by geological strata and pumping

Groundwater does not flow only through a single open channel underground, like a river. It is stored in the gaps within layers that let water pass easily, such as sand and gravel, and moves through them. A layer that holds water and supplies it to wells is called an “aquifer.” In Fushimi there is shallow groundwater in river, terrace, and other deposits, as well as groundwater in aquifers within the older Osaka Group, and the layer that a well draws from depends on its depth. [DXP08]

A geological report by the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) explains that, as groundwater use in Fushimi increased and water levels fell, use gradually shifted from around the 1960s onward to confined groundwater from deep wells. Confined groundwater is groundwater under pressure beneath a layer through which water does not pass easily. Even in an area where a famous spring flows, water cannot be drawn without limit, and the water sources used by the breweries also changed. [DXP08]

In an area where breweries are concentrated, looking at a single well does not reveal the state of the water. A 2013 paper by Takafumi Kitaoka, Harushige Kusumi, and others, who studied groundwater flow at Kansai University, focused on an area of about 4 square kilometers in which about 50 wells owned by sake brewing companies are densely clustered. They measured well water levels in the field and analyzed them together with pumping in the surrounding area and the three-dimensional structure of the strata. [DXP07]

Because pumping water also changes the surrounding groundwater levels, protecting the water used for sake brewing involves not only managing water quality at each brewery but also understanding the strata and water use across the whole area. The traditions of the Gokosui, sake brewing, and well monitoring are, respectively, activities of faith, production, and resource management connected with water. [DXP07]

The Kintetsu elevated tracks and negotiations to protect well water

Plans for where to route a railway also affected the breweries’ wells. According to the history of the Fushimi Joyukai, in 1928, in response to a plan to run a railway underground through the Momoyama Hills, the Fushimi Sake Brewers Association asked Matsubara Atsushi, a geologist at Kyoto Imperial University, to conduct a survey. Based on survey results expressing concern about the effects on groundwater, the association is said to have lobbied the authorities and the railway company and requested a change to elevated tracks. Construction methods had to be coordinated between the development of above-ground transportation and an industry that obtains its water from underground. [R2P006]

In 1960 a groundwater survey committee was organized, and surveys were carried out by Kawabata Hiroshi, who studied groundwater at Kyoto Gakugei University, and others. In 1977 a groundwater preservation committee was established, and in 1979 a request was made to the City of Kyoto that construction involving underground work be discussed with the brewers association. A conservation system was put in place that not only measures water levels and quality but also involves consulting with designers and contractors and, where necessary, changing construction methods. [R2P006]

What does “moderately hard water” say about what the water contains?

Water hardness is a value calculated mainly from the concentrations of calcium and magnesium. The Fushimi Sake Brewers Association describes the area’s brewing water as moderately hard water containing potassium, calcium, and other minerals. Hardness, however, is not an indicator of all the components in water. Some components, such as potassium, are not included in the hardness calculation. [18, 28]

Inorganic components dissolved in brewing water promote or suppress the growth of microorganisms and enzyme reactions. In small-scale brewing trials published by the National Research Institute of Brewing in 2024, waters of similar hardness did not yield the same components in the finished sake or the same changes during brewing. Because water quality also differs with the depth of the well and the strata, one cannot conclude from hardness alone that “Fushimi water is moderately hard, so the sake tastes this way.” [28]

This research covered brewing water from various regions. To know the composition of individual wells in Fushimi, a water quality analysis of each well would be required.

The amount of water the rice absorbs is also a brewing condition

After the rice is washed to remove the bran from its surface, it is soaked in water so that it absorbs moisture. The soaking time varies with the rice variety, the growing conditions of the year’s crop, the rice’s hardness, and the degree of polishing. Highly polished rice absorbs water quickly, so the time is sometimes adjusted to the second. The water is not simply for wetting the rice; it is used to bring the rice into the right condition for the steaming that follows. [10]

Steaming changes the starch in the rice into a state that koji enzymes can break down more easily. Part of the steamed rice is used for koji making, and the rest goes into preparing the moromi, the mash in which steamed rice, koji, water, and other ingredients are combined and fermented. In the mash, koji enzymes convert the rice starch into sugar, and yeast produces alcohol from that sugar. Not only water quality but also water absorption, steaming, koji, yeast, and fermentation temperature are all conditions of sake brewing. [10, 29]

The Fushimi Sake Brewers Association gives the explanation “eight shō of water for one shō of sake.” This is a rough guide indicating that producing sake requires more water than the amount of sake that becomes the final product. Considering that water is also used for washing rice and cleaning, it becomes clear why breweries need an abundant supply of water. [18]

Ogura Pond was a shallow pond where the waters of three rivers gathered

Ogura Pond (Ogura-ike), which once spread out to the south of Fushimi, was a shallow pond formed in the area where the Uji, Kizu, and Katsura Rivers come together. Downstream lies the narrow terrain at Yamazaki, which made it difficult for water to flow out, so a broad expanse of water formed upstream of it. According to Kyoto Prefecture’s description of the landform, the pond had a circumference of about 16 kilometers and an area of 794 hectares, and areas 1 meter deep or less made up 90 percent of it. [56]

Low-lying land where water gathers was a place where fish and aquatic plants thrived, and also a place where water spread out during heavy rain. Fish such as carp, crucian carp, and moroko, as well as plants such as reeds, Manchurian wild rice, lotus, and water caltrop, lived and grew there, and people also used the pond for fishing. The works that changed this environment of ponds and rivers came in separate stages: Hideyoshi’s embankments, the Meiji-era river improvements, and the Showa-era reclamation. [56]

Hideyoshi’s river works, the Meiji-era closure, and the Showa-era reclamation were separate projects

When Toyotomi Hideyoshi built Fushimi Castle and its castle town, he diverted the Uji River toward Fushimi and built embankments between the river and Ogura Pond. The construction of the Taiko Embankment, the Makishima Embankment, and others was a project to guard against floods while also securing a waterway to the port and roads toward Uji and Nara. The embankments that held back the water also served as routes for carrying people and goods. [90][1]

The 16th-century works did not, however, make the pond disappear. Ogura Pond remained afterward, and the conditions under which water flowed in and out changed through modern river improvements. The Yodo River Improvement Works of 1896–1910 included work to separate the Uji River from Ogura Pond and close off the connection. Kyoto Prefecture’s description of the landform explains that, within these works, construction in 1900–1903 led to the old Uji River and the drainage channel from Higashi-Imoarai being abandoned, and the deterioration of the water quality progressed. [90][56]

From 1933 to 1941, a national land reclamation project drained the water and turned the pond bed into land, creating 634 hectares of farmland. Separating the rivers from the pond is different from draining the pond to create dry land. Treating everything from Hideyoshi’s works to the Showa-era reclamation as a single development obscures the fishing grounds and waterside life that continued for several hundred years. [55, 56]

Agriculture on the reclaimed land depends on maintaining the facilities that drain water from it. A 2019 casebook by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries describes how renovating the drainage pumping stations and drainage channels of Ogura Pond reduced flood damage not only to farmland but also to residential areas, roads, and public facilities. On land that was once a pond, both farming and everyday life rely on drainage facilities. [64]

Brewery offices and lock gates also include flood precautions

Fushimi Yume Hyakushu in Minamihama-chō is the former head office of Gekkeikan, completed in 1919. It was built about 1 meter above the road as a precaution against flooding of the Uji River, and this design can still be seen in the stone steps at the entrance and the stone enclosure. A single building shows both the convenience of a location near the river and preparations against flooding. [7]

The Misu Lock Gate (Misu Kōmon), in Fushimi Ward, Kyoto City, is a facility that raises and lowers boats between the Horikawa Canal and the Uji River, which have different water levels, so that boats can travel between them. Because it works on the same principle as the Panama Canal, it is also called “the Panama Canal of Fushimi.” It was completed in 1929. [36][93][32]

Between the two gates is a section called the lock chamber, which boats enter. Once a boat is inside, the gate on the departure side is closed, the water level in the chamber is matched to that of the destination river, and then the gate on the opposite side is opened. When heading to a river with a higher water level, the boat is lifted along with the water; when heading to a lower river, it is lowered. The mechanism lets boats pass while remaining afloat, even when the rivers’ water levels differ. [36]

The Misu Lock Gate became necessary because the construction of embankments on the right bank of the Uji River, begun in 1922, meant that boats could no longer travel directly between Fushimi Port and the Uji River. A facility was needed that would let boats into the port inside the embankment while the embankment protected the town. Operating the lock gate to let boats through has now ended, but the facility also serves as part of the embankment. [32][90]

Flood control in Fushimi was not achieved by the lock gate alone. In the great flood of 1953, the Mukaijima embankment on the left bank of the Uji River broke, causing extensive damage in the river basin. Embankment construction, river improvements, and flood regulation by dams continued afterward. Raising buildings, embankments, lock gates, and drainage facilities are each measures that deal with flooding in different places and for different purposes. [90]

Photographs from the construction period and the time of completion, the differences from an incline, and the change from freight transport to a preserved facility are covered in detail in Modern Fushimi and the Misu Lock Gate.

Groundwater for sake brewing and the waterways used by boats served different purposes

Heading west from Gokonomiya along Otesuji and then south brings you to the sake brewery district and the waterside around the Horikawa Canal. The water pumped from underground for brewing and the waterways used to carry people and goods by boat have supported Fushimi’s industries in different ways.

The brewing process is explained in detail in Tsuki no Katsura’s Sparkling Nigori Sake and Gekkeikan’s Techniques, and the development of water transport and commerce in The Edo-Period Port Town.

River water was used for more than carrying goods. A Meiji-period photograph of Fukakusa Watamori-chō shows a washing place with steps leading down to the surface of the Kamogawa Canal. It is a record of the canal bank being built so that it could be used in daily life, and of people doing their washing there. Distinguishing among three uses—wells for brewing, a canal for boats, and a washing place—also reveals the facilities that were needed along the water. [R2P008]

At the Misu Lock Gate Museum, moving models show how water levels change

The museum next to the Misu Lock Gate has a model and video explaining how the lock gate works, a model of “Fushimi Port and the Town of Fushimi,” and panels on the history of the Misu Lock Gate. Besides showing the procedure for passing boats through by changing the water level, they offer clues to where the port and the town were connected. In the plaza there is also a monument of the hoist that once moved the gates. [91]

According to the museum’s official information, it is located in Yoshijima Kanaidochō, Fushimi Ward, Kyoto City, about a 10-minute walk from Chushojima Station. Admission is free, and opening hours are 9:00–16:30. The museum is normally closed on Mondays, but it is open on Mondays in April, May, October, and November and on Mondays that are national holidays, and it is closed from December 27 to January 5. The museum has no parking. All of this information was confirmed on October 26, 2026; before visiting, you can check the latest opening status in the official visitor information. [92]

References

• Gokonomiya Shrine: History
• Ministry of the Environment: Gokosui
• Fushimi Sake Brewers Association: Water
• National Research Institute of Brewing: NRIB No. 47, “Water and Sake”
• Gekkeikan: From Rice to Sake
• Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries: Delicious Sake Comes from Delicious Rice
• Kyoto Prefecture Red Data Book 2015: Ogura Pond
• The Ogura Pond Reclaimed Land That Supports Prosperous Lives
• Fushimi Tourism Association: Fushimi Yume Hyakushu
• MLIT Yodogawa River Office: The History of the Misu Lock Gate (Timeline)
• Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism: Misu Lock Gate Facility Introduction
• Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries: Learning from Examples of Thriving Rural Development vol.6, “Ogura Pond”

• Miyako Meisho Zue (Ukai Bunko Collection, National Institute of Japanese Literature; 1786 printed edition)

• Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism: Yodo River System

• MLIT Yodogawa River Office: History of the Misu Lock Gate

• MLIT Yodogawa River Office: Museum Facilities

• MLIT Yodogawa River Office: Misu Lock Gate Museum Visitor Information

• Kyoto Kanko Navi: Misu Lock Gate and Fushimi Minato Plaza

• DXP08: National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology: Geology of the Southeastern Kyoto District
• DXP07: Takafumi Kitaoka et al.: Groundwater Characteristics and Three-Dimensional Seepage Flow Analysis in the Fushimi Area
• R2P006: Fushimi Joyukai: Efforts to Protect the Water

• R2P008: Fukakusa Archives: Washing Place on the Kamogawa Canal

• R3I001: Gokonomiya Shrine: Shrine Grounds in Detail

• R3I002: Shosuke Fukui: Catalogue of Historical Materials Related to the Horio Family

• R3I021: Gokonomiya Shrine: Shrine History

Featured image illustration: Cafe & Sweets Parade Kyoto.