The kandouko sake warmer is
thought to have been used since the early Edo period in Japan. Apparently, people
in those days brought these gadgets with them for outdoor activities such as
cherry blossom viewing, and there they use them to enjoy warmed sake outdoors.
Several years ago, I found out about the kandouko sake warmer when I saw its advertisement on a Web page. It
seemed that a sake-brewing-related company named Daikokuya had reproduced this old
device from the Edo period and they were selling this gadget. Actually, it seemed
to me a fascinating device, but too expensive to afford for me (it was priced
at 126,000 yen).
The picture below shows the structure of the kandouko. The kandouko
holds some amount of water in it, warms the water with heat of charcoal fire
also burning inside this gadget, and warms sake with the warmed water. While you
wait for your sake being warmed, you can cook some foods such as dried fish on
the grill placed over the charcoal fire.
One of the problems when you enjoy warmed sake is that, when you
finish the current helping, you need to leave the table for preparing another
helping in the microwave etc. and your merry drinking time is interrupted by such
work. I think the kandouko is a perfect
solution to this problem, and moreover it even offers a bonus function for
grilling some foods.
I was dying to own one of these gadgets, and so went on the Web to a
net-auction site to see whether someone was selling one. There were some of
these devices being sold. After one or two trials of bidding, I could finally
purchase one. It cost around 6,000 yen. A good deal!
From then on, I often enjoy warmed sake with this kandouko. Also, I sometimes go
net-shopping for those devices, and now I own five of them.
I treasure these gadgets so much that I made a song of kandouko. I make a movie of the kandouko using this song as BGM and
uploaded it on the Youtube site. Please enjoy my movie, in which I sing the Song
of Kandouko Sake Warmer, and it shows you how I enjoy warmed sake with my kandouko.
2 comments:
Excellent. Thank you for the visual explanation of the kanduoko. I need one of these. I'm going to start searching.
Kandoukos are sold as antique items in network auctions. However, someone establish a company that produces and sells kandouko by the product name of "nokanro." The following site provides details:
http://www.nokanro.com/
Unfortunately, the site is only in Japanese.
Post a Comment