Matsuo-jinja

A five-minute walk north of Saijō Station is Matsuo-jinja (松尾神社), a shrine dedicated to Japan’s god of sake. Established in 1926 by the Saijō Brewers Association as a branch of Kyoto’s Matsuo Taisha, the shrine maintains a ritual link to its parent shrine. Each year, in the weeks before October’s Sake Matsuri, small batches are brewed here as a ritual offering to provide blessings for the sacred sake-making process. Weathered stone lanterns line the approach to a simple honden (main hall) shaded by tall cedars, while a tended rock garden framed by kusari-doi (rain chains) completes a sense of the reverence of nature.