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Local Rice Wine (jizake)
***** Location: Japan
***** Season: Topic
***** Category: Humanity
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kaiun sake 開運酒 Sake for your Good Luck
( 土井酒造場 )
. kudarizake 下り酒 Sake transported up to Edo .
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Explanation
Local brands of rice wine 地酒 (じざけ)
Plenty of good water leads to plenty of local rice wine brands with a special flavor.
I will introduce some brands as I find haiku about them.

Liste in Book jisake saki ricewine
The first sake has been introduced in the region of Nara, to prepare ritual MIKI 神酒 for the shrine and temple rituals.
. Jindaisugi 神代 杉
"Pine of the Gods" sacred sake 御神酒 .
shrine Tamaki Jinja 玉置神社
We also have
nihonshu no hi 日本酒の日 Day of Ricewine, Sake Day
October 1
That is a kigo for late-autumn !!
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Water, well water, spring water of Japan
Sake Rice wine (ricewine) sake, Japan Reiswein
rice wine for cooking, ryoorishu 料理酒
. WASHOKU - - - irizake 煎酒 boiled-down sake
The Flavor of Edo
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- quote
Kanpai! Sake through the ages

“A civilization stands or falls by the degree to which drink has entered the lives of its people, and from that point of view Japan must rank very high among the civilizations of the world,” observed essayist Kenichi Yoshida in “Japan is a Circle” (1975).
The first foreigners ever to record observations of the Japanese — Chinese envoys of the third century A.D. — noted, “They are much given to strong drink.” Traces on prehistoric pottery suggest fruit-brewing as early as the Jomon Period (c. 12,000 B.C. — c. 300 B.C.). The history we’re embarked on is therefore a very long one — with no end of parties to crash!
MORE
- source : Michael Hoffman - Japan Times - October 2013
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quote
Sake and Japanese Culture
Written by Dr. Koizumi Takeo, Professor,
Tokyo University of Agriculture
Since time immemorial, people have brewed alcohol and enjoyed it as part of their culture. In many parts of the world, alcohol has held a place of honor and been romanticized as an ideal. The Japanese are certainly no exception. Many centuries ago, they began blending their staple food, rice, with pure water and koji micro-organisms to make Nihon-shu (Japanese sake), skillfully taking advantage of nature and local environmental conditions to create a distinctive brew.
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From beverage of the gods to a drink for the common man
The most potent alcohol in the world
Microorganisms: The secret behind that intriguing fragrance and taste
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Sake as part of culture
Sake was created by the ancestors of today’s Japanese. For centuries it has been part of the life of almost every person on the archipelago, because of its importance in rites commemorating everything from birth to death. Sake is more than a drink taken to enjoy a tipsy time—it also serves a vital social purpose at the defining moments in life.
and much much more :
source : web-japan.org/nipponia, 2008
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. Azuki Arai
小豆洗い 特別純米原酒
washing red beans -
a river turned
ricewine
The wonderful world of Japanese monsters
by Mizuki Shigeru !
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External LINKs
Jizake Center
Sake Brand names
BORN Choya Dassai Echigo Fukucho Biho Gassan Haguro Hakkaisan Hakuro Suishu Hakutaka
Hatsuhana Hatsushibori Hisui Red Hojun Zuiyo Hotarugawa Hyosho Jinyu Kakunko Kamotsuru
Kanchiku Kikumasamune Kikusui Kinoene Yuu Ga Kirin Kokushimuso Kokuto Koshino Kagiroi Kubota
Michinoku Onigoroshi Miyozakura Nagaragawa Nanbu Bijin Nihonkai Nihonkoku Rihaku Sato No Homare
Senshin Sharaku Shimeharitsuru Shochikubai Suigei Sumiyoshi Taisetsu Takashimizu Take No Tsuyu
Taki No Koi Tamanohikari Tengumai Tokugetsu Yaemon Yuki No Matsushima
Shochu Brand names
Ayamurasaki Beniazuma Beniikko Gankutsuoh Hachijo Hakutake Iichiko Ikkomon
Kaido Kakushigura Kiccho Hozan Kurokame Mizuho Satsuma Shimauta Shiroyutaka
Sudachi Synchro Takara Tenshi No Yuwaku Tomi No Hozan Torikai Towari Yokaichi
Information
SAKE PRODUCING REGIONS SAKE INGREDIENTS
CLASSIFICATION OF SAKE SAKE SCALE SAKE CATALOG
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"Sake Samurai" Timothy Sullivan
http://www.urbansake.com/
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Japanese Ways to drink Sake
kanizake 蟹酒 sake with crabs
drunk from the main shell of the crab.
Or put some crab legs into a masu square wooden sake cup and drink with the meat dangling in front of your eyes ... mmmmmm !
. . . CLICK here for Photos !
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Otokoyama Sake Brewery and Museum
Asahikawa Hokkaido
The award winning Otokoyama company has been making sake from Hokkaido's Mt. Taisetsu spring water for over 340 years. The pure spring water is rumoured to possess remedial healing elements that provide a drinker a long and healthy life. For this reason it is a favourite amongst Japanese. The museum provides a wonderful insight into the making of sake and explains how deeply rooted sake is in Japanese culture and tradition.
source : Otokoyama Sake Brewery and Museum
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Doburoku どぶろく unrefined sake, homemade sake
doboroku
Doburoku Matsuri Festival
WASHOKU : Doburoku Festival at Hagimachi, Shirakawa go
. Kibuna, ki-buna 黄鮒 / 黄ぶな "yellow carp" .
local brand from Tochigi
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hanekishibori sake 撥ね木搾り(はねぎしぼり)
a special way to press the mixture for ricewine with a very long trunk of a tree of about 8 meters (haneki). Moromi is packed in sacks, stacked in a barrel and then pressure is added slowly by pulling a rope to change the position of the long tree trunk. More than a ton of stone weights are also added.
practised by Yoshidaya in Shimabara, Kyushu. 吉田屋

Sake is prepared in this way from March to April. It is a family tradition and much more time-consuming than normal sake brewing.
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六花酒造 津軽 うめ カップ
With fresh water from the mountains of Shirakami Sanchi
and white rice from Aomori, Mutsu Homare むつほまれ
. Rice from Tsugaru .
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sakekasu 酒粕 sake lees
This whitish stuff is used in making vinegar, and in pickling or preserving food.
. . . CLICK here for Photos !
Sake-Treber, Sake-Maische
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chirori 銚釐 ( ちろり) metal sake container
used to heat or cool small portions
In Kyoto there is a maker of pure tin chirori for special situations.
. . . CLICK here for Photos !
明星のちろりにひびけほととぎす
akaboshi no chirori ni hibike hototogisu
Akutagawa Ryunosuke 芥川龍之介
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kijooshu 貴醸酒(きじょうしゅ) Kijoshu. special sweet rice wine
It is not set up with water but with rice wine and is rather sweet in taste.
For 100 units of rice it uses 60 units of rice wine (and not 130 units of water, as in normal rice wine). It is then aged for up to 8 years. It is more like a port wine with a ruby color.
. . . CLICK here for Photos !
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Ricewine from Niigata
ichiyo raifuku 一陽来復 "Sun is coming back"
. . . CLICK here for Photos !
. Ichiyo raifuku 一陽来復 at the Winter Solstice
KIGO
. Shoojoo 猩猩 /猩々 Shojo, a legendary drunkard
a brand from Nagano
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Worldwide use
Lokaler Sake, lokaler Reiswein, regionaler Reiswein
Sake aus einer bestimmten Gegend
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Things found on the way
. kunshu sanmon 葷酒山門(くんしゅさんもん)
Temple Gate, no garlic or liquor beyond this point!
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HAIKU
Echigo is located at the side of the Sea of Japan and famous four its loads of snow in winter.
Suganadake from Echigo
越後五泉の主峰 『菅名岳』
Sunagadake is the name of a famous mountain in Echigo.
. . . CLICK here for Mountain Photos !
The water comes from a famous spring of the area.
. . . CLICK here for Photos of the sake!
The haiku are from a group of mountain climbers, written on the New Year night spent in a mountain hut at Mount Suga-na-dake.
菅名岳歯に凍みとおる寒九かな
Suganadake ha ni shimitooru kanku kana
Suganadake ...
the cold of January
seeps in my teeth
茶碗酒寒九の空にこだまして
chawanzake kanku no sora ni kodamashita
drinking sake from a tea cup ....
the cold of January
echoes in the sky
source : www7.ocn.ne.jp
kanku is a cold period around January 13, according to the Asian lunar calendar.
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The essence of crystal water “Sugana dake, Okura yama”
Having approximately 300 year old primeaval forest of beech trees, the harmony of most covered rocks and clear flowing water provide a new aspect to seasonal beauty. Clear water wells up from many locations at the foot of the mountains.
In particular, “Doppara Shimizu” and “Yoshimizu” are famous as brands of water.
The water from Doppara Shimizu is used to make local brands of sake and every year in January, people from around the country participate in the Kanku No Mizukumi event. In addition, the area around Yoshimizu wells and cottages are prepared, drawing sightseers from all over Japan.
MORE about
source : Gosen-City.
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Blind Woman from Echigo (Echigo goze)
Echigo and Haiku
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Geert Verbeke, December 2008
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All translations on this page by Gabi Greve, unless stated otherwise.
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Related words
***** Mizu : Water, well water, spring water of Japan
***** Sake Sake, Rice wine (ricewine) Reiswein
***** Jibiiru, local beer brands 地ビール, Bier
***** Daruma Masamune 達磨正宗 Aged Rice wine
Futsukayoi ふつかよい(二日酔い/ 宿酔 )
hangover and its natural remedies
. Saikusa matsuri 三枝祭 Saikusa Festival
for sake brewers, at shrine Saigawa in Nara, June 17
***** WASHOKU : DRINKS SAIJIKI
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