In land size, Osaka is, together with Kagawa, the smallest prefecture in Japan. Lying at Osaka Bay, the Yodo and Yamato Rivers flow through the prefecture. Mountains surround the three other sides of the prefecture and here nature can be found, as in the Nose and Mino areas to the north, or Kawachi to the south. The city of Osaka is historically a merchant city. It is also known as the "nation's kitchen" and served as a center for the rice trade and finance during the Edo period. Now it is the second largest metropolitan area in Japan and a powerhouse of electrical, chemical, pharmaceutical and food industries.

[Kongoji in Kawachi-Nagano, Osaka]
Sake brewing in Osaka began in Japan's Middle Ages with a famous monastery, Amanosan Kongoji. Standing in Kawachi-Nagano, this is still a great Esoteric Buddhist temple. The sake, Amano-shu, was provided to the Ashikaga shoguns and also Hideyoshi is on record as a fervent admirer. Technically, this sake was also advanced - it was brewed by filling the brewing vats in two batches with rice, water and koji, instead of putting everything in at the same time, thus giving the yeast time to start working properly (now the sandan-shikomi, or method of "three times adding" is the normal procedure). The temple stopped brewing in the Edo-period, but a brewery in the same area has revived the name and the method (see Saijo below).
Osaka used to have many small breweries, in Kawachi, Ikeda and Izumi. Many of these made sa...