Nadame

【English】

(Former) Nada region

【Japanese】

灘目

This was the old name for the Nada region, and included the vicinity of Lower Nada (Shimo Nada, 下灘, in the Yatabe District) and Upper Nada (Kami Nada, 上灘, in Uhara District). Lower Nada is now the area around the Chuo and Hyogo Wards of Kobe City; Upper Nada has become the Nada and Higashi Nada Wards in Kobe, and the city of Ashiya.

The word Nada (灘) has the meaning of “sea”. It is thought that the name Nadame arose from a corrupted pronunciation of characters (灘 and 辺, which would normally combine to read nadabe), indicating “around Nada” – “near the sea”.

The area indicated by the name Nada has changed somewhat through the ages, so the geographical extent and location of the modern Nada Go-go is rather different from that of former times.

From the time when the Imazu area was added to the “two Nadas” and this area was collectively called Nada-me San-go (灘目三郷, the “Three Regions of Nada-me”) after 1828, Lower Nada, Imazu and the Western, Central and Eastern Districts of Upper Nada came to be known as the Five Regions (Go) of Nada.

In 1886, when the Settsu / Nada Sake Brewers’ Association was formed, the Lower Nada District was removed, and Nishinomiya Go was added, thus making up the Nada Go-go known today.