Ricewine (sake) (05)

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Ricewine, rice wine (sake, saké, saki, Japan)

***** Location: Japan
***** Season: various
***** Category: Humanity

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Explanation

Ricewine is one of the best things of life in Japan!


http://www.amie.or.jp/daruma/Sake.html

For all you need to know about this drink, check
Sake World Homepage - John Gauntner

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Sake is a beverage fermented from rice, which is a grain. This would make it more of a beer than a wine. Yet, sake is not carbonated, and flavor-wise is closer to wine than beer, although it is indeed uniquely different from wine. Sake is not a distilled beverage, and is not even remotely related to gin, vodka or other spirits.
http://www.sake-world.com/html/sake-faqs.html

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Here is one story of John's Sake World about Haiku:

Kotsuzumi, "Koden"Junmaishu, Hyogo Prefecture

The name Kotsuzumi refers to a small drum used in a form of traditional Japanese dancing. The grandfather of the current president was a haiku poetry student of a famous haiku poet, and the name Kotsuzumi was given by that famous poet. He was so into his haiku writing that the sake brewery almost went under, I was told, and in fact the current owner and his father are also poets.

http://www.sake-world.com/html/sw-2004_8.html

A little detour:
More about the Japanese Drums
Japanese Drums by Gabi Greve

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Now let us go back to the kigo with SAKE!

Spring

Ricewine whilst viewing the Cherry Blossoms
hanamizake 花見酒
Cherry Blossoms - Kigo in the Database

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Summer

sweet ricewine, amazake 甘酒、醴
Other kigo versions are:
one-night ricewine, hitoyozake 一夜酒
seller of sweet ricewine, amazake-uri 甘酒売り
shop for sweet ricewine, amazakeya 甘酒屋

Rice for cakes (mochi) is cooked until very soft (kayu) and then special mold (kooji, koji) is added and let ferment for seven, eight hours or over night, hence the naming.
It is drunk hot on warm summer evenings and during the Edo period, sellers would walk around to sell this beverage.
Nowadays it is more consumed on winter evenings.
We can now even buy prepared bags with freeze-dried contents, to be diluted with hot water for fast consumption.
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Quote from the Muso Company:

Amazake is popular as a winter drink that warms our bodies. The history of Amazake goes back to the 4th century according to the Chronicles of Japan. Although it is often associated with winter, its season word in Haiku is summer. Years ago when diet was simpler, many people died from the heat of summer. During this period, people started to drink Amazake as a sweet nutritious drink to survive rigorous summers.

Because Amazake is made from brown rice Koji, it includes a rich amount of vitamins, essential amino acids, and glucose created by the Koji. Live enzymes in Amazake are also effective in strengthening the digestive system by accelerating appetite and regular elimination. Nutritionally rich Amazake is popular in and out of Japan for young and old alike since it contains no alcohol.
http://www.muso-intl.co.jp/ENGLISH/Beverages/Amazake.html

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Cold Rice Wine, hiyazake 冷酒
..... reishu　冷酒
..... hiyashizake 冷やし酒

Japanese wine (nihonshu 日本酒), another word for rice wine, is a favorite in summer too.
In summer it is consumed with the normal temperature of the day or nowadays, on the rocks with ice cubes.

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Autumn

Chrysanthemum Ricewine, kiku no sake, kikuzake 菊の酒
(Mid-Autumn)
To prepare Chrysanthemum Wine, you have to float some Chrysanthemum petals in ricewine, appreciate their beauty first and then drink.

Chrysanthemum Festival - Kigo in our Database

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New Ricewine, shinshu 新酒
This ricewine is brewed with the first rice crop of a year.

first run of a new sake, abarashiri 新走
ricewine of this year, kotoshizake 今年酒
early rice sake, wasezake 早稲酒

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Ricewine while viewing the Full Moon of Autumn
tsukimizake 月見酒

WHC World Kigo Database: MOON and his LINKS

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Winter

Warm sake toast of the town for winter
atsukan　熱燗　(kigo for all winter)

Hot sake is known as o-kan, or kan-zake in general. Nurukan refers to sake heated to about 40-45 C, whereas atsukan is piping hot sake. Atsukan has its appeal as a curiosity, but you really can't taste much.

Read more By JOHN GAUNTNER
http://www.sake-world.com/html/jt-1999_0.html

The pot to heat the sake can be made from copper or clay. You use a container (chooshi　銚子) and put it into the pot with hot water for indirect heating. A tokkuri (sake container　徳利) is also put into hot water to heat up and when the top feels right, it is taken out of the hot bath and ready for consumption.

Read Gabi Greve about

Tokkuri - Drinking Hot Sake with Daruma 徳利とだるま—焼物散歩

I remember a story about the "invention" of hot rice wine in Ancient China.
The troops would drink cold rice wine every night and have a hangover next day, not able to fight the enemy porperly. So a clever general would serve them heated sake, which made them drunk easily without drinking toooo much. Next morning they would have no hangover and fight the enemy to the end.
Thus the custom of drinking it HOT was born.

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Drinking ricewine before going to bed, nezake 寝酒
Many people drink before going to bed, but on a cold winter night with no central heating in the home, it was essential to have a hot sip before getting to sleep. Therefore it is a kigo for all winter.

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Blowfish fins in Ricewine, hirezake 鰭酒
(all winter)


http://kitchen-h.fem.jp/cgi-bin/column/column/basic/009.html

The dried fins are either left as they are or chopped finely and are then immersed in ricewine. This brew has a special taste and is well loved by connoisseuers. The reaction of the alcohol in the body shows fast, therefore it is usually used as a last farwell drink.

Sometimes a piece of raw blowfish (sashimi) is immersed inthe ricewine, this is also a kigo called "Fish Meat Ricewine" mizake (身酒).

Read more about the Blowfish here
WHC World Kigo Database: Blowfish (fugu)

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Brewing ricewine in the cold, kanzukuri　寒造, 寒作り
Ricewine that is brewed with especially cold water in the middle of winter.

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Ricewine whilst viewing the snow falling
yukimizake 雪見酒

WHC World Kigo Database: Snow (yuki)

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Ricewine with an egg, tamagozake 玉子酒, 卵酒
Since the Edo period this was used as a medicine against cold, because of the nutrition of the egg.
Nowadays sugar is also added to the mixture. Sometimes the pot is set on fire with a match to get rid of the alcohol to give the drink to children.

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Ricewine with ginger, shoogazake 生姜酒
Finely grated or ground ginger is put in a cup and hot sake added to it. This is also a traditional medicine against cold. The flavor of ricewine and ginger go well together and you could sip this brew for hours ...

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Liquor made from pine needles, matsubazake, matsuba sake 松葉酒
まつばざけ, まつはさけ
Tonic liquor flavored with pine needle extracts



Made in May from fresh pine needles, choped finely, with sugar and water added. When left in the sunshine, it starts to ferment. Recently it is also prepared with rice schnaps, shoochuu 焼酎. After half a year the mixture is ready to drink. It is known as a medicine for various ailments in China, Korea and Japan.

Some Korean Recipies 　


There is also a schnaps made with Matsutake Mushrooms. 松茸酒
Fresh mushrooms are cut and immersed in shoochu for about 6 months before consumption.
http://www2.tokai.or.jp/fuji-ys/ninjinmatutake.htm

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"Hail Wine", ararezake 霰酒　あられざけ
Also called "Snow Pellet Wine" mizorezake 霙酒　みぞれざけ
This brew has its origin in the year of Keichoo (from 1596) and the hint was taken from the famous pond Sarusawa 猿沢　in Nara.
Rice cakes (mochi) are cut and diluted with rice shnaps (shoochuu) many times until they finally resemble hail stones when chopped. They are put in sweet rice wine (mirin　味醂 ) to mature for a while.
Another way of preparation is using the molded sake (kooji, koji 糀) to imitate the snow pellets.
This sake is a speciality of Nara.


http://www.kitora.com/harusika-araresake.htm

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New Year

New Year's Ricewine
... nenshu 年酒
... toshizake としざけ
mulled with spices, toso, o-toso 屠蘇

WHC World Kigo Database: Mulled wine (gloegg)


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A sake barrel,
Born without hands, makes merry —
Cherry blossom time

Modern Ihara Saikaku (1642-1693)


Sake Barrels exhibited at Shinto Shrines



Sake Barrels, Decoration Barrels
Explanations are here !



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Worldwide use

Germany

Reiswein

"Aus grünem Bambus
Reiswein genießen. Abschied
für die Studenten."

(Saskia Ishikawa Franke)
Ein elegisches Epigramm.
http://kulturserver-nds.de/home/haiku-dhg/Archiv/Fitterer_Epigramm.htm

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Ein Greis sitzt am Fluss,
Schenkt sich `ne Schale Reiswein
Ein Volkslied summend.

Hungki Park
http://www.e-stories.de/gedichte-lesen.phtml?10965

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Things found on the way

Battledore Game

This game reached Japan from Japan during the Muromachi period, where it became a pastime for the court nobles and their children. When grown ups played it in teams, the loosing part had to drink a coup of ricewine.

Battledore game - Kigo in our Database

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Read Gabi Greve about
Sake and Shochu - Ricewine, Schnaps and Daruma
酒、焼酎と達磨 — 晩酌散歩

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A Japanese link with haiku about rice shnaps, shoochuu
焼酎の俳句
http://plaza.rakuten.co.jp/hiromuworld/5000

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HAIKU

草の戸や日暮てくれし菊の酒
kusa no to ya higurete kureshi kiku no sake

grass door -
dusk arrives with a present
of chrysanthemum ricewine

Matsuo Basho
Tr. Gabi Greve

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blue seas
breaking waves smell of rice wine
tonight's moon
(Tr. Jane Reichhold)

Basho
http://www.ahapoetry.com/haiku.htm

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親鳥のぬくめ心地や玉子酒
shinchoo no nukume kokochi ya tamagozake

正岡子規 Masaoka Shiki
http://www.suien.net/shiki/kansyo.htm

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their stems dipped
in refined sake,
these drooping wisteria flowers
have recovered,
have revived!
(tr by S. Goldstein)

Masaoka Shiki (1867-1902)
http://www.worldhaikureview.org/1-3/whcessays_yachimoto1.shtml

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鰭酒に酔ひける夜の星の下
hirezake ni yoikeru yo no hoshi no shita

getting drunk on
blowfish fin sake this night
unter the stars

遠藤和良 Endo Kazuyoshi
http://www.endo-kazuyoshi.com/haiku/04.htm

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寒造透かせグラスの江戸切子
kanzukuri sukase-gurasu no Edo kiriko

ricewine brewed in the cold -
a transparent glass of
old Edo cut glass

吉岡ゆたか Yoshioka Yutaka
www5.ocn.ne.jp/~turu/kukai/g_200503.html

Edo Kiriko is a glass craft that has been handed down in Tokyo. In Edo (present-day Tokyo) in 1824, Kyubei Kagaya started exploring the technique of cutting patterns into the surface of glass.



Read more about this lovely glass here:
http://web-japan.org/atlas/crafts/cra08.html

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爐びらきや　雪中庵のあられ酒 　Buson
robiraki ya sekichuuan no ararezake

opening the hearth -
in my hut surrounded by snow
a sip of snow pellet wine
(Tr. Gabi Greve)

robiraki is itself a kigo for early winter.

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旬のゑらぶみぞれふる夜のあられ酒
Kikaku
ku no erabu mizore furu yo no ararezake

selecting haiku
on an evening with pellet snow -
a sip of hail wine
(Tr. Gabi Greve)

http://www.kitora.com/harusika-araresake.htm

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花びらを吹いて楽しむ花見酒
hanabira o fuite tanoshimu hanamizake

blowing flower petals
and enjoying
ricewine under cherry blossoms

Hajko
http://www2.saganet.ne.jp/vastalto/hajko/hajk2000.html

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amazake no nukumori daite haru o matsu

holding on to a cup
of sweet ricewine -
waiting for spring
(Tr. Gabi Greve)

黛まどか

This is a haiku on a bag of sweet sake preparation, winner of a haiku contest about sweet sake from Morinaga Company.
http://morinaga.co.jp/amazake/haiku/index.html

ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo

Japanese SAKE haiku Collection

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!!! Special Feature of the World Kigo Database :
Santoka and Sake 。。山頭火と酒の俳句　　Santooka

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Related words

***** WHC World Kigo Database: Hot Drinks List

***** Egg Nog

*****Hot Whiskey (Toddy, Irish Coffee)

***** Mulled wine (gloegg, Gluehwein)


***** Iced Coffee, aisu-koohii (Japan) Hot Coffee

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Please send your contributions to Gabi Greve
worldkigo　 .....

Back to the Worldkigo Index
http://worldkigodatabase.blogspot.com/