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What is SAKE?
Japan has four seasons, each of which offers beautiful scenery in different ways. You can drink sake hot or chilled, as you like, at the temperature from 5°C (41°F) to 60°C (140°F). Japanese sake is a luxury item which has become part of Japanese culture. Japanese sake has a history as long as wine. Also, hon-jo-zo-shu, which is a type of sake, may have strong taste such as tequila or vodka.
Sake had been brewed in Japan since the middle of Jomon era. Paddy rice cultivation was started around the second or third century B.C. in Japan, and the sake fermented with rice koji was also brewed. The sake brewed by using malt can be found only in Japan. Toraijin or immigrants from Baekje and Silla Kingdoms as well as the mainland China had a lot of influences on the development of the ancient culture of Japan in about the fifth century. They contributed to the improvement of the conventional brewage style of Japan. The demand for sake used for the politics of Yamato dynasty increased in about the seventh century, and it had a Brewing Office for sake brewing consisting of specialists of sake making. In this office, the specialists seem to have made ten kinds or more sake. As for the sake making, techniques unique to Japan became a main force, and a prototype of present sake brewing was established around the ninth century.
Water is necessary for the making of Japanese sake. There is abundant spring water everywhere in the Fushimi area. Because of the spring water, the good and tasty Fushimi sake can be made. The underground water of Fushimi is famous as meisui and many visitors bring the spring water home in plastic bottles or small tanks. Some Japanese people love to use spring water when cooking at home. If you want to drink it on the spot, you can use a shaku or a dipper looking like a big wooden spoon (shown in the photo). However, please do not drink water directly from the edge of a shaku. That is also part of Japanese culture. Why don’t you try Fushimi good spring water?
Reference: Fushimi Sake Brewers Association (2001),
The 125-year History of Fushimi Sake Brewers Association.
Sake Dokoro
The Kansai district has two areas called “the best sake dokoro (sake place) in Japan.” They are Fushimi in Kyoto city and Nada in Kobe city, and the production of sake in the two areas accounts for 45 percent of the country’s sake production. Conditions such as water, rice, climate, and special techniques are essential to any good brewing grounds. Both Fushimi and Nada satisfy all these conditions, and this was in particular the primary reason for the development of Fushimi as the town of sake breweries with good quality brewing water. Because Fushimi sake is produced by fermenting rice slowly at low temperature with good quality riverbed water flowing in the Fushimi area, it has a mild bouquet. Because of these characteristics, Fushimi sake is called sweet “onna-sake (woman sake)” as opposed to Nada sake that is called dry “otoko-sake (man sake)” for its high-temperature short-term preparation. Fushimi is often compared with Nada in this way, and Fushimi and Nada developed as a town competing against one another. As a result both have produced a lot of excellent sake. In this way Fushimi and Nada have been called “the best sake dokoro in Japan”, and the production of sake in both areas is high. In fact, the whole area of Fushimi is developing as a town of sake brewing now. The beautiful historical townscape of wooden sake cellars standing in line will make you feel the spirit of sake dokoro Fushimi and the culture of sake brewing. We believe that sake tasting in the real sake town, Fushimi, will be precious experience for you!
Reference: Kansai Window. Retrived February 12, 2010, from http://www.kippo.or.jp/index_j.asp
Toji: A chief brewer of sake
Toji
Toji is a master of sake making, top of the group of professional workers called kurabito. To become a toji, special techniques to control the conditions of sake ingredients are required. A keen sense for making sake and management of the kurabito group are also required. This means not all kurabito can become toji. As leader of sake brewing, toji has to have love for sake and an ability to control the entire group of kurabito.
History
Sake had been made all the year around until Muromachi era, but it came to be made only in winter since Edo era. This system, called kanzukuri, gradually became mainstream, since malted rice is more active at the lower temperature in winter. In addition, farmers who came to kuramoto (meaning “cellar owner” or “brewery”) in winter increased in number. The wintertime is farmers’ off-season, and brewing sake was a stable job because it required special techniques. So this system was favorable for farmers. Then many farmers started to make migrant worker groups, and made sake at kuramoto in winter. They came to kuramoto right after finishing the harvest, and they brewed sake until April. So they were also called “100 days worker.” Kurabito under control of toji came into existence like this.
Though it has become possible to manage the elaborate sake making process by using computers in recent years, Japanese sake still needs the power and wisdom of toji. Toji’s intuition and experiences are the basis of the workmanship of sake making.
The Present Condition
Aging of the workers is becoming a serious problem in the sake industry, and it is difficult to find a successor who would continue the job of toji. One of the reasons is that the number of those who do the farmwork in summer and brew sake in winter has been decreasing now. Another is that hard training is required to be a toji. However, some kuramoto started to employ young people as kurabito and there is a new generation of young toji today. Furthermore, today many female workers enter the world of sake industry to become toji after the enforcement of the Equal Employment Opportunity Law in 1985, though in the past sake brewing was primarily closed to women. Thus, the world of toji is changing now. However, it is still necessary for sake makers to find a potential successor full of special knowledge.
Sugidama, or "ceder ball," representing aging of sake
Sugidama is a round ball made of trimmed leaves of Japanese cedar, and it is often hung in front of the sake brewery. Sugidama is not a mere decoration and it has interesting meanings.
Sugidama tells people the degree to which the sake has matured. “Young sake” is brewed with the rice harvested in the autumn. A fresh green sugidama (see the picture) means the sale of young sake has just started. When a fresh green sugidama appears, sake-loving people are very happy because they expect that young sake of various kinds will appear one after another.
Some of the sake pressed from the winter through the spring is sold in the market as young sake, but the rest of the sake is stored in sake cellar. This sake gradually matures and gets a well-mellowed taste. When the autumn comes, the matured sake is sold in the market. By this time, sugidama will have been dead and turned completely brown. Therefore, a brown sugidama is a sign that sake has matured moderately and the right time for drinking of the sake has come. Fresh sake gradually matures in sake cellar in the same way as a fresh green sugidama gradually turns brown. We enjoy seeing how the color of sugidama turns as the year goes along. It is one of the unique customs of Japan, where you can enjoy the changing seasons and a lot of sake, too.
Pay attention to the color of sugidama if you have a chance to stroll around Fushimi. Your walk in Fushimi will be more interesting.
Reference: Sakabayashi.. Retrived February 12, 2010,
from http://www.kuroushi.com/sakabayashi/what.htm
Ways to Drink Sake for Four Seasons
Spring
桃花酒 Tokashu
We usually drink tokashu on March 3 (momo-no-sekku and festival for girls). It tastes sweet! A peach is called momo which means a long life. It is believed that tokashu cures various sicknesses and improves the complexion.
花見酒 Hanamizake
The joy of watching cherry blossoms and drinking sake has been one of the main events since Nara era. Enjoying cherry blossom has been part of the traditional Japanese culture.
菖蒲酒 Shobuzake
We drink shobuzake (also called ayamezake) on May 5 (known as tango-no-sekku and festival for boys). Shobu in Japanese means “iris”, and shobuzake, sake with iris leaves, roots or stalks in it, is believed to have mystical powers to protect us from evil.
Summer
夏越しの酒 Natsugoshi-no-sake
This sake is drunk on the last day of June, to wash out the dirt accumulated during the first half of the year. Having finished rice planting in rice field, farmers in Japan take a deep breath at this time of the year. To overcome the hottest season, we drink this sake wishing for good harvest in autumn.
鰻酒 Unagizake
On doyo-no-ushi day (usually late July) in the middle of the hottest season, it is tradition for Japanese to eat unagi (eel). First we put a broiled eel in a bowl and then pour atsukan (heated sake) sufficiently, cover the bowl and wait for about five minutes. After drinking this sake, we eat eel, too.
冷やづくし Hiyazukushi
Hiya means sake served at room temperature, and reishu means chilled sake. There are three types of chilled sake: yukibie (5°C/41°F). hanabie (10°C/50°F) and suzuhie (15°C/59°F). In summer, they are very suitable for heated body. Sherbet-style sake is also tasty.
Autumn
月見酒 Tsukimizake
Tsukimizake means drinking sake watching the full moon.
It is time when it prepares ear of Japanese pampas grass and seven grasses of autumn and tastes the turn of the season.
重陽の節句 Cho-yo-no-sekku
We drink kiku-no-hana-no-sake on September 9 (cho-yo-no-sekku). We can live a long life, if we drink kiku-no-hana-no-sake (kiku means chrysanthemum in Japanese).
冷やおろし Hiyaoroshi
New brew that is made between winter and spring is stored in cellar to cool. After, sake is bottled in autumn and the temperature falls, it is shipped from the cellar. Hiyaoroshi means "shipment without heating."
Winter
除夜の酒 Joya-no-sake
Joya means new year’s eve. We enjoy drinking this sake, hearing joya-no-kane (bell of new year’s eve) and remembering the passing year to make a vow for the new year.
屠蘇・年酒 Toso, toshizake
Toso means to drink sake with family at the beginning of the year. Originally this custom came from China. In the early Heian era, it was drunk only at the royal court, but as years went by, it became popular among common people. After Meiji era, we started to soak tososan into mirin (sweet sake). We serve toso to the guest at the beginning of the year. This sake is called toshizake (new year’s sake).
鏡開き Kagamibiraki
It has been a custom in Japan to eat kagami-mochi (two flat, round rice cakes, the smaller one on top of the larger) and drink miki (sake dedicated to gods) after they were served for gods. It is said that good luck comes to those who eat kagami-mochi cut and broken into small pieces.
雪見酒 Yukimizake
This is an elegant custom in Japan. Famous author Murasaki Shikibu (Lady Murasaki), in the Heian era, is said to have drunk sake enjoying a view of beautiful snow outside. There is another way to enjoy sake with snow.
If you want to make a yukiwari, go outside on a snowy day with your favorite glass, then wait until the glass is covered with snow (amount depends on you!). You can pour sake as much as you like.
ひれ酒 Hirezake
Hirezake is heated sake (atsukan) with roasted fins in it. Put some fins in hot sake, cover up and wait until aroma of fins spread around sake. This amber-colored sake is quite popular among Japanese because roasted fins change the taste of inexpensive sake into delicious flavor.
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