Shoochuu Liquor

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Distilled liquor (shoochuu)

***** Location: Japan
***** Season: All summer
***** Category: Humanity

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Explanation

shoochuu 焼酎 (しょうちゅう)
shochu, strong distilled liquor
Schnaps

awamori 泡盛（あわもり）from Okinawa
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kasutori shoochuu 粕取焼酎（かすとりしょうちゅう）
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imojoochuu 甘藷焼酎, 芋焼酎 （いもじょうちゅう）from sweet potatos
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Kartoffelschnaps

kibijoochuu 黍焼酎, きび焼酎（きびじょうちゅう）from kibi millet
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Hirseschnaps






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Shōchū is an alcoholic beverage of Japan, most commonly distilled from barley, sweet potato or rice. Typically it is 25% alcohol by volume, making it weaker than whisky, but stronger than wine and sake.
Shōchū is produced everywhere in Japan, yet the home of shochu is Kyūshū island.
Shōchū should not be confused with sake, a brewed rice wine. Its taste is usually far less fruity and depends strongly on the nature of the starch used in the distilling process. Its flavour is often described as "nutty" or "earthy".

History
The exact origin of shōchū is unclear. Originally alcohol the strength of shōchū was called araki (arak) or rambiki (alembic) in Japan; arak is a generic term for a variety of distilled alcoholic drinks throughout the Middle East. Shōchū likely first arrived either in Kyūshū through Thailand and Ryukyu (Okinawa) or in Iki Island from Korea which adopted it from the Mongols who themselves acquired the distillation process from Persia.

As far as can be determined from Japanese historical record, shōchū appears to have been made since at least as far back as the 16th century. For example, when the missionary Francis Xavier visited Kagoshima Prefecture in 1549, he recorded that
"the Japanese drink arak made from rice [...] but I have not seen a single drunkard. That is because once inebriated they immediately lie down and go to sleep."

Further, at Kōriyama Hachiman shrine in Ōkuchi, Kagoshima, the oldest existing direct reference to shōchū in Japan can be found. There, two carpenters working on the shrine in 1559 inscribed the following graffiti on a wooden plank in the roof:
"The high priest was so stingy he never once gave us shōchū to drink. What a nuisance!"



honkaku shōchū
moromitori shōchū
黒糖焼酎,lurotoo joochuu kokutōjōchū from brown sugar
そば焼酎, sobajoochuu, from buckwheat

kasutori shōchū (粕取り焼酎 is made by distilling the sake lees left over from the fermentation of sake.
Seichō kasutori shōchū (正調粕取焼酎)

hashira shōchū (柱焼酎)
sanaburi shōchū (早苗響, sanaburi)

(混和焼酎, konwashōchū)
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !

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A lot of shochu is brewed in Kyushu.
Sweet potato liquor is most famous from Kagoshima, second from Miyazaki.

Shochu from Miyazaki
The alcohol content is only about 20%, since this was cheaper to sell right after the second world war. Now this gentle liquor is a favorite of ladies.
In the southern parts near Kagoshima, there is sweet potato liquor.
In the central parts, both sweet potato and rice liquor.
In the western parts near Kumamoto, rice liquor.
In parts near Oita, liquor is made from soba buckwheat, mugi wheat, toomorokoshi corn or kibi millet.

Liquor from Miyazaki comes in glass bottles or ceramic bottles, a favorite souvenier of the prefecture.

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Daruma Shochu


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Worldwide use


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Things found on the way


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. 九千坊河童　Kyusenbo kappa　- Kusenbo Kappa .
from - Tanushimaru 田主丸 Fukuoka, Kyushu


Schnaps with the Water Goblin, Kappa san
- KAPPA - 河童 / 合羽　/ かっぱ /　カッパ - ABC-Index -


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HAIKU

焼酎の味を守るや女たち
shoochuu no aji o mamoru ya onnatachi

they keep the taste
of sweet potato liquor ...
these women brewers

For the female shochu brewers of Nichiman Village in Miyazaki, Kyushu.
In the third generation, the ladies keep the secret of the family brew.
Together with other women from the town they have developed some soft liquor for ladies, called NAOYAKA NARI
The earthen containers are more than 120 years old and not produced any more. The brewers have to be very careful when blending the ingredients with a bamboo pole not to break a pot, since only 50 are left.
日南焼酎, 古澤醸造
宮崎県日南市材木町6-12

Gabi Greve, December 2008


嫋なり【たおやかなり】Naoyaka Nari


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A shochu from Miyasaki prefecture,
called KIGO.

The name is taken from the season word for haiku
俳句における季語（KIGO)

made from sweet potatoes, a mix of three different kinds of original schnaps.

The mix originated in the year 1834, when an English taster テイスター experimented with the liquor.
For additional "hidden" flavor, a bit of grated mikan peel, cinnamon, blossom fragrance, dried grapes and others are added.

You can enjoy this taste in all the four seasons!

source : sakashodouraku

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. from friends on facebook :

kigo -
a summer drink
for all seasons

Hortensia Anderson

. . . . .


We have a bottle
of Kigo and share
our haiku

Angelika Bygott

. . . . .


Kigo's scent
never fades while reading
Santoka,s verses

Massih Talebian


"Taneda Santoka(1882-1940) was very poor and he used to drink SHOCHU beacuse it is cheaper than SAKE but feels AWFUL the next day. In October 1930 Santoka has drunk a lot of Shochu and therefore he couldn,t leave the bed in the morning and he writes this haiku:

chill chill of the earth
I give up
my feverish body to it"


. Santoka and Sake 種田山頭火

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morning moon
Kigo still lingers
on his breath

Chen-ou Liu

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shoochuu
the slurring voice
of a kigo

Don, SH


出羽鶴　本格焼酎　-　なまはげ Namahage Shochu Liquor

. Namahage なまはげ Demons of Akita .

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Related words

SUMMER DRINKS


***** DRINKS SAIJIKI

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. Legends and Tales from Japan　伝説 - Introduction .

- reference : nichibun yokai database 妖怪データベース -
14 legends to explore

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