Spend a Day Enjoying Traditional Nishinomiya Culture

A day trip that offers a truly in-depth regional experience of three core elements of Japanese culture: Noh theatre, sake, and a famous shrine.

This experience offers great insights for anyone keen to engage with key Japanese religious, artistic, and culinary traditions. The day kicks off at 10:00 a.m. at the Nishinomiya Noh Theatre. Noh is a performing art that dates back to the 14th century. Not only do you get to watch a Noh performance on a traditional cypress stage, you also get to wear a Noh mask and costume, and stand on the stage to practice the suri-ashi sliding walk performed by Noh performers. (For an extra fee, you can also try on official sets of Noh costumes and play traditional Noh instruments.)

For lunch, you'll head to a Japanese restaurant located in a sake brewery.
After enjoying a selection of sake with your meal, you move on to the Hakushika Memorial Museum of Sake, where the curator will explain the sake-brewing process and the tools and equipment used.

Finally, you’ll head to Nishinomiya Shrine, which is the grand head shrine of the Ebisu Sect of Shintoism in Japan. The deity enshrined here, Ebisu, is revered as the deity of commerce and wealth, so visitors often pray for good fortune. During your visit, you can pray at the shrine and stroll around to enjoy the rich natural surroundings of the grounds.

©Japan Traditional arts & Cultures Foundation

The tour then concludes at 4:00 p.m. Though brief, this in-depth itinerary allows you to experience centuries of tradition in one fell swoop—truly a day well spent.

Access: From Shin-Osaka Station, take the Kobe Line train to Koshien-guchi Station (20 minutes). From the station, it takes 10 minutes by car to reach the destination.
From Kansai International Airport, take the limousine bus for Nishinomiya and get off at Nishinomiya Station (55 minutes), then take the Hanshin Railway to Naruo - Mukogawajoshidai-Mae Station (10 minutes). From there, it’s a five-minute walk to the meeting site.