Fushimi: the sake quarter and the canals
Brewery walls along the water, the old river boats, and the inn where history turned. This is a Claude-drafted route awaiting the editor's walk.

1. Gekkeikan Okura Sake Museum
Start at the brewer's old storehouse on the canal, black timber and white plaster, a working well in the yard. The museum walks you through how *sake* (rice wine) is made and ends, sensibly, with a tasting. The soft Fushimi water is the whole reason the breweries are here.

2. The Jikkokubune boats
From the museum's back gate the *jikkokubune* — the flat-bottomed river boats that once hauled rice and *sake* down to Osaka — run short trips along the willow-lined canal. You don't have to take one; walking the towpath gives you the same low view of the brewery walls reflected in the water.

3. Kizakura Kappa Country
A rival brewery's compound a few minutes on, with its own small museum, a courtyard, and a brewpub pouring beer as well as *sake*. The mascot is a *kappa*, the river-imp of folklore. A good place to sit if the towpath has made you thirsty.

4. Teradaya inn
The riverside inn where the reformer Sakamoto Ryoma was ambushed in 1866 and shot his way out — the bullet marks and the bath he escaped through are part of the lore. The building you see is a faithful reconstruction; the story is what you come for. Small entry fee.

5. The brewers' streets
North of the canal the lanes are lined with shops selling the local brews by the bottle and the cup. Wander without a plan; many *sakagura* (breweries) have a tasting counter, and the sweet-rice smell hangs in the air on a cold afternoon.

6. Gokonomiya shrine
End at the shrine whose spring, *Gokosui*, is one of the famous waters of Fushimi — taste it from the basin if you like. The garden behind is quiet and the walk up to Fushimi-Momoyama station from here is short and downhill-easy.

Fushimi: the sake quarter and the canals