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Toppage ＞ Shudo - The Way of Sake＞ chapter 1 |
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| A haiku that does credit to the sake lover Yamaguchi Seison. It conjures up a warming scene of a lovely bottle of clear, blue-tinged sake beside the bright-red glow of a sunken fireplace or a large traditional charcoal brazier. |
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The Entry Point to the Way of Sake |
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Every place has an entrance.
In the realm of Zen Buddhism, it signifies the door to entering a new state of mind, a gateway to profundity.
Sake too has its own perfumed entrance.
Open this door, in a relaxed and tranquil frame of mind, in order to savour good sake and to indulge in the pleasant sensation it provides.
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Images of Sake |
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 On what occasions do we drink sake, meaning of course, Nihon-shu, or Japanese rice wine?
There are times when sake can act as a salve to dispel sadness, times when it brings together a meal, times when it is a sleeping potion that relieves tiredness.
There are times when sake is served with the food prepared by a beloved spouse, times when it is shared with friends at a bar, times when sake is an accompaniment to flirting with the lady behind the counter of a small eating establishment, and times when it might be enjoyed in the company of a famous geisha in a chic drawing room.
When women get together, sake can help them talk of their youthful days, indulge in female joys and sorrows, or even berate men - a scene reminiscent of the ancient literary work Genji Monogatari (Tale of the Genji), in which there is a scene about people drinking sake on a rainy night and discussing the merits of various members of the opposite sex.
Sake is an inseparable companion in which ever of these instances you might prefer. However, a companionship with sake ends badly if one only drinks sake to get drunk.
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Know your Drink, Know Yourself |
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Every country and group of people has produced its own drink, but I have never come across a drink with such depths of flavour as sake. It is a grand cultural legacy produced by our ancestors, a wonderful drink at the apex of Japanese cuisine, one which has been constantly passed on and imbibed to the present day.
The great advances in brewing technology, besides, mean we are free to enjoy fragrant, good-tasting sake of a quality much higher than what was available in the past.
Incidentally, can you declare with pride that you enjoy sake?
Is there a sense of disdain, perhaps, when it remarked that a person likes this drink? There are various “paths” or “ways” in Japan for refining a person, be it through skill at tea ceremony, flower arrangement, traditional archery, or distinguishing different kinds of incense. Shud? or the “Way of Sake” appeared at the end of the Ashikaga Shogunate (ca. 14 C. - mid. 16 C.), but for it alone, for some reason, quickly disappeared - perhaps on account of sake being an intoxicating drink.
In past, commoners did not have free access to sake. It was regarded as a drink that ruined people, because it was only consumed in the festive drinking that followed a festival. On such occasions people would get themselves intoxicated.
But we are now free to enjoy sake of the very highest quality whenever we wish, sake akin to works of art. Sake enables us to learn about numerous masters and individuals worthy of reverence and enables our dreams to take flight. It is the entry point to the Way of Sake. Follow this pleasant path each month. It will purify the soul. There are elegant sakes to be enjoyed. |
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Brewing Begins |
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 If we take the trouble to open the window on a cold dawn, the garden is glimmering with a light layer of frost. Hence the eleventh lunar month has been referred to as Shimotsuki or the “Month of Frosts”.
The seventh day of the eleventh lunar month is Ritt?, the day marking the onset of winter, the day we might hear the footsteps of General Winter, who is not far away. And yet autumn lingers on, setting the trees ablaze with magnificent autumn colours.
The autumn leaves fall every time it rains, and eventually a clear, blue sky spreads above the cold, barren treetops. The eleventh month is also referred to as the “month of fallen leaves”.
Migratory high-pressure systems develop, establishing a typical winter weather pattern characterised by high-pressure systems in the western part of Japan and low-pressure systems in the east. We have days of clear, tranquil skies. The sun sets quickly though in the autumn, and temperatures quickly fall at night.
Work begins in the cellars to make sake. Highly polished rice suited to sake brewing is thoroughly washed, and provided with the necessary moisture for steaming at high temperatures.
The Toji or Sake Brewer takes some of this steamed rice, lays it out on a work surface and forms it into hineri-mochi or special rice cakes, which are placed on a Shinto altar with prayers for the success of this season’s sake.
There is the clacker of flint to produce gem-like sparks for purification purposes. The deity associated with sake brewing, the deity of the hearth, the household deities, and all the other deities of the Shinto pantheon are invoked. Preparation starts on the very first sake, the unrefined sake referred to as moromi or nigorizake. It might be sent to Edo (present-day Tokyo), where it is referred to as the “first sake of Edo”, or sent to the countryside, where it is referred to as the “first sake of the country”. Prayers are made so that they might prepare the very best of sakes, a sake which is sweet, yet dry. The deities are asked to purify the undertakings and dispel ill fortune.
The cellar is enveloped in the aroma of the unrefined sake. |
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Warmed Sake |
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The weather quickly gets chilly, which means this is the month to enjoy warmed sake.
In the past, it was said that a person could ward off illness if he or she drank warmed rice wine from the time of the Chrysanthemum Festival (on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month). The remark is attributed to a poem by the Tang Dynasty poet Bai Juyi (772-846) or to a comment made by Ichij? Kaneyoshi (1402-1481), an erudite noble of the Muromachi period. But the book Y?j?kun (“A Guide to Health”), by the mid-Edo period scholar Kaibara Ekiken (1630-1714), urges people to drink warmed sake all the time, and avoid drinking it chilled in summer and hot in the winter.
In recent times, more and more people are drinking sake chilled or at room temperature, irrespective of the season, but there are also depths of flavour to be enjoyed in slowly savouring hot sake.
“A serving of hot sake!” is the cry often heard at bars and small eating establishments. People are no doubt eager to warm themselves quickly by gulping down hot sake when the weather gets cold, but this is a shame, because it destroys the bouquet and flavour of a well-mellowed drink, which the people at the sake cellars have striven to create.
Epidemiological studies also tell us that hot sake should be avoided at all costs, since it is quite harmful to the gullet and the stomach.
There is no need for hot sake, since alcohol burns up on its own accord and soon warms the body when absorbed at around the same temperature as the human body.
The flavour of sake varies according to the temperature at which the sake is served. The flavours unfold when sake is generally served at temperatures of around 30°C (hinata-kan “basking in the sun”), 35°C (hitohada-kan “skin temperature”), and 40°C (nuruma-kan “tepid”), while many people say a temperature of 45°C (jokan “top-quality”) balances the inherent flavours and bouquet of sake.
It is a matter of personal preference. Ascertain the temperature that suits you.
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Welcoming Sake |
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 What kind of sake will we meet today? I find encounters with sake a purifying experience, just as if I am welcoming another person. I also feel sake bathes my soul when I close my eyes and savour it quietly.
A slight tipsiness visits us as we engage in a dialogue with sake, in between various dishes. The sake gradually reveals its charms to us.
Let’s take ourselves to a drinking party.
[People take their seats.] You move to your allocated place and sit down after greeting the guests beside you and near you. The table will already have been set for the occasion. Immediately in front of you there will be chopsticks (perhaps disposable chopsticks which first of all have to be pulled apart) placed on a chopstick rest. Beyond it, you will find an upturned choko or shallow cup for holding the sake.
[The party begins.] There will be words of greeting, first of all, from the host. The host or somebody else will then brief the guests about the sake that will be served today. Mention will be made, not only of the brands, but also about the different types of sake (e.g. ginj?-shu, junmai-shu, and honj?z?-shu), as well as the provenance of the rice that went into the sake, such as where it came from, the ratio of polished rice to unpolished rice, whether the rice lends itself to sweet or dry sake, acidity levels, and the amount of amino acids in the rice. The guests will also be briefed on the dishes that provide a suitable accompaniment to the sake.
The sake bottles and the starter course are placed on the table, and it is time for the toast. The organiser sometimes provides a different sake for the toast, and in principle, will serve it to the guests on his or her left.
A person appointed by the host will propose the toast, and then the party can begin.
Women should have wiped their mouths beforehand to remove any lipstick, as a cup coated with lipstick is best avoided.
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『酌』 The Serving of Sake
The Pouring and Receiving of Sake
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This 酌character, read as shaku or kumu, refers to the serving of sake. The segment on the right side of the character 勺 (also read as shaku), signifies the drawing of water with a ladle. The character酌 appears in the word 参酌 (sanshaku), which means to draw on and take note of other person’s views and feelings.
So serving sake is not just a matter of plying one another with drink; it involves the enjoyment of sake by showing respect for each other.
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『Pouring Sake』 |
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Now, how does one hold the sake cup?
There are different styles - a style adopted by the court nobles, and a style adopted by the warriors.
In the former, the left index finger and middle finger are wrapped around the base of the cup, and the rim supported by the thumb. The other side of the cup is supported by the right index finger, middle finger, and ring finger put together in unison. It is a style suited to women.
In the warrior style, the rim is grasped by the index finger and the thumb, and the middle finger and ring finger are wrapped around the base. This style, suited to men, keeps the cup steady and enables the drinker to maintain a good posture.
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『Receiving Sake』 |
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Now, how does one hold the sake cup?
There are different styles - a style adopted by the court nobles, and a style adopted by the warriors.
In the former, the left index finger and middle finger are wrapped around the base of the cup, and the rim supported by the thumb. The other side of the cup is supported by the right index finger, middle finger, and ring finger put together in unison. It is a style suited to women.
In the warrior style, the rim is grasped by the index finger and the thumb, and the middle finger and ring finger are wrapped around the base. This style, suited to men, keeps the cup steady and enables the drinker to maintain a good posture.
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『Exchanging of Cups』 |
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The word kensh? refers to exchanging of cups. In such cases, etiquette requires that a person in a subordinate position, first of all, pours sake for his or her superior. In receiving another person’s cup (in this case, a saucer-like cup referred to as sakazuki), women, as a matter of course, and men too, hold the cup in the right hand, gently supporting it with the left. It is important at such times not to receive the sake over the other person’s table setting. It should be done away from the settings on the table.
When returning the cup, it should be washed, if a basin has been set for this purpose, and returned with the front side facing the other person. If you are unsure of this, the front is the patterned side of the cup.
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・Salmon
Salmon in northern waters return to the rivers of their birth in the autumn and winter in order to spawn. Fish caught just as they are about to make the journey upstream are best, providing what is called aki-aji or a “taste of autumn”.
Nothing in a salmon need go to waste. There are all kinds of dishes which can be made from the head, the backbone, and the internal organs.
・Salad made with pickled salmon’s head
The head contains cartilage, resembling clear ice, extending from the beak to around the eyes. The Japanese name for this cartilage is hizu (literally ice head). The head of a salted salmon can be thinly sliced and pickled to provide a good crunchy accompaniment to sake, something to get the teeth into.
・Soup made from the odds and ends of a salted salmon
Sanpei-jiru is a type of soup to enjoy with warmed sake on cold nights when the wind strips the leaves from the trees. The head, backbone, internal organs, and other parts of a salted salmon are made into a soup with a heroic assortment of other ingredients, such as giant radish, carrots, burdock, leeks, potatoes, t?fu, and konnyaku starch cakes.
The soup can be enhanced with the addition of sake lees.
・Salted and fermented salmon gut
The internal organs attached to the backbone, or what are commonly referred to as the “guts”, can be salted and fermented to produce a dish called mefun. Other ingredients, such as thin strips of squid, can be added to produce a good accompaniment to sake.
・Sake-soaked salmon
Sake-bitashi or “sake-soaked salmon” is a specialty of Murakami in Niigata prefecture. Salt-cured salmon are strung up by their tails and left to hang under the eaves during the cold winter that grips this part of Japan. The cured salmon are only ready to eat once they have been exposed to the winds and rain of spring and have taken on some moisture in the subsequent rainy season. During this time, oil drains from the salmon’s mouth, and the body takes on an amber colour. The cured fish can be thinly sliced and then sprinkled with a few drops of sake. A little while later, the fish has turned soft and is good to eat with sake.
・Salmon roe
Raw salmon roe appears at this time. The roe is removed by hand from the egg sacs, and then washed and shaken in tepid water to separate the eggs, which can then be flavoured, according to one’s preference, with soy sauce, sake or stock, to produce a truly wonderful dish. A bowl of hot rice garnished with salmon roe stimulates the appetite. |
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『Flatfish』 |
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 Flatfish are generally smaller than halibut. There are many varieties of flatfish that appear on the meal table.
The seas around Japan are home to about twenty varieties of flatfish, including dab, stone flounder, frog flounder, willowy flounder (slippery sole), and round-nose flounder.
The large, fresh fish are good eaten raw, but the fish can also be cut into slivers, parboiled, and then chilled to be eaten as an accompaniment to sake.
The fish are also tasty when filleted and slowly simmered in a concentrated soy broth. Willowy flounder which has been salted and steamed and then slightly grilled also whets the appetite for sake. Dried small flatfish produced in the Inland Sea are also nice, chewed head-first.
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『Sea Cucumber』 |
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 We often hear of creatures hibernating in the winter, but the sea cucumber hibernates, as it were, in the summer when the water temperatures are warm. The creature digs a hole in the muddy seafloor and stays there until the water temperature cools in the autumn and winter. Now is the season for sea cucumbers. They are regarded as one of the three great delicacies of Japan (the others being sea urchin and dried mullet roe).
There are many, many varieties of sea cucumber. The blue sea cucumber is preferred in and further north of the Kant? region, while the red sea cucumber is preferred in the Kansai region.
Sea cucumbers belong to the family of creatures called Echinoderms. Freshly harvested sea cucumbers will be covered in spiky nodules. The plump, chunky examples are good to eat.
At home, a sea cucumber is prepared, first of all, by ringing it out. The creature is placed in a plastic bag with a generous amount of salt. The bag is then closed and shaken so that the salt will shrink the sea cucumber into a solid mass.
The shrunken sea cucumber is then washed in water, and both ends are chopped off, before using the knife to split it open to remove the gut, which are referred to as konowata.
The sea cucumber can then be sprinkled with a little salt or soy sauce to produce a truly wonderful accompaniment. If liked, the creature can also be pickled.
We might mention here that the characters used to write namako or “sea cucumber” 海鼠 literally mean “sea mouse”, since the creature tends to be nocturnal like a mouse.
Trepang or behe-de-mer, an ingredient in Chinese cuisine, is made from dried sea cucumber. It is written with the characters 海鼠 which literally mean “sea carrot”, on account of its nutritional value akin to a carrot. The konowata or gut of the sea cucumber is a luxury dish amongst all of the dishes that accompany sake. The gut can be eaten as is, but it is better when complimented with other ingredients, such as thin strips of squid.
The ovaries of sea cucumbers can be dried to produce a dish called konoko, which is a delicacy amongst delicacies. Any of the sea cucumber dishes greatly compliments Japanese rice wine.
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『Ginko Nuts』 |
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 Walk along an avenue of ginko trees, and you will occasionally see people gathering the fallen nuts. Nicely washed ginko nuts though also appear at the grocers.
If you order ginko nuts at a small eating establishment, they will often appear roasted on a bed of salt, garnished with the likes of pine leaves. To savour a taste of autumn, patiently open the hot shells along the split surface to get at the nut, which you then eat with the salt. The shells will sometimes be removed, and the nuts fried in a little oil and salted. This too is a good dish.
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| Translated by Stephen Hanson
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