The sake brewing industry in Higashihiroshima, Hiroshima Prefecture, which took root in the Edo Period (1603 to 1867) and flourished in the Meiji Era (1868 to 1912), was both propelled and hindered by the effects of war.
Eighty years after the end of the Pacific War, the stories of the city’s breweries reveal how a local craft was buffeted by wartime economic controls and offer reflections on the meaning of peace today.
In a quiet corner of the Shiwanishi area of Higashihiroshima’s Shiwa district, surrounded by rice fields and red-tiled roofs, a white-walled storehouse still stands. This was once the Yamatohana Jozo brewery, founded in 1869, which ended its sake production during the war under the economic controls.
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