Shishimai and Sake

On May 5, an annual shishimai event was held at Yakumo Shrine in Kawai district of Okutama Town, Tokyo. Yakumo Shrine is in a distance of 10-minute walk from JR Kawai Station. I invited some sake-drinking friends to join me to see this event. The style of the lion dances dedicated to this shrine is the one called sambiki-shishimai or sasara-shishimai, which is popular in various districts in the Kanto area including Okutama, Chichibu, Ome, Akiruno, and other cities, towns, and villages.

The front approach way to the shrine consists of two flights of stone stairs. If you look upward from the base of the first flight, you will find a "two-story gate" in the dimness of the cedar tree grove. The approach goes through under the gate leading to an open square beyond it. This "two-story gate," designated as a tangible folklore cultural property of Tokyo, has a unique structure; standing on the mountain slope, the front appears to be a two-story building while the back looks like a one-story building.

The upper floor of the gate on the back side serves as a stage for plays, dances, and other local performing arts. However the three-lion dances are not performed on this stage but in the open square in front of the stage. The front approach leads to this center square, across which there is another flight of stone stairs. At the upper end of these stairs is the front shrine.

Another noteworthy point of this Yakumo Shrine is that there are several stone-walled tiers on both sides of the second flight of stairs. These tiers serve as spectators’ seats so that visitors at this shrine can enjoy watching a play, dance, or any other performance art performed on the stage or in the center square.

High-standing cedar trees surrounding the spectators’ seats, center square, and theater provide good shade for performers and spectators, and usher a comfortable energy flow into the precincts, producing a sacred atmosphere of a realm protected by some mysterious power.

On this day, we occupied our place on the third tier from the bottom on the right, viewed from the stage. We had brought some bottles of sake, wine, and snacks, and set them ready in place, waiting for lion dances to begin.

In these shishimai events, seven performances of lion dances are performed. When we arrived at the place, it was past noon, three performances had already been performed, and performers were taking a lunch break. In the afternoon, still another four performances were awaited.

Here, I would like to explain sambiki-shishimai. This type of lion dances is danced by three dancers and some backup dancers with music played by bamboo flutes.

The dancers wear headgear called shishigashira. They are what the Japanese in olden days thought look like lion heads (since the Japanese did not know what the lion looked like exactly, they never look like lion heads, having horns and feathers on the head). The dancers bear drums tied around their waists, and beat these drums while dancing.

The backup dancers are four, six, or eight kimono-clad people. The number of these backup dancers varies according to the place where dances have been handed down. They play instruments made by bamboo, making frictional sounds along with the melody of bamboo flutes.

Many documents describing the derivation of lion dances are handed down in many places in Japan, and according to these old documents, lion dances have been started in 1245. The story is as follows:

In the spring of 1245, in the ceremonial hall Shishinden in the imperial palace, imperial families and their guest were enjoying a party. Suddenly, the sky turned dark and they heard thunders and saw streaks of lightning. Then, three shining objects appeared in the sky and they flew to these people, finally fell with thuds in the garden of the Shishinden. These objects were something they had never seen before, and they were surprised and scared. Then, after close observation of these objects, the people knew these objects looked like three heads of some animal. No one knew what in the world these things were. The emperor had a fortune-teller see these things to see whether they were a good omen or bad. The fortune-teller said, "these are the head of lions living in India, and they are great auspices," continuing, "if people wear these on their heads and dance, our country stays in peace forever." In this way, people started these lion dances. Of course, this is a legend, and no one take this story at face value.

By the way, I often come to enjoy the lion dances of this Yakumo Shrine, and every time I am at this event, one clown guy first dancing with other dancers but later coming out from the dance place bears a bottle of sake, comes to us, and offers sake to us. This is my most favorite point of these lion dances at Yakumo Shirine.

So, we had been waiting for this time!

Tokyo sake, Tamajiman Josen Honjozo

In my opinion, Tamajiman sake brewed by Ishikawa Brewery is on the full-bodied side among sake products made by breweries in Tokyo. Especially, the brewery's namazake is characterized by its boldness, bringing a strong impression home to me.

Of course, junmai sake and ginjo sake are nice for me, but for those who drink almost everyday, it is a fortune that there are sakes that are relatively low priced and tasty. Tamajiman Josen Honjozo is sake that fulfills this requirement.

The sake, made from rice milled down to 65％ and in the yondanjikomi (四段仕込) method, exhibits a fully developed taste, and my impression of the first sip is "this is nice!" Moderate palatability without too much sweetness or dryness.

I drank this sake at room temperature, but I want to try this warmed next time.

By the way, Ishikawa Brewery is located at a distance of a 20-minute walk from JR Haijima Station. On the premises of the brewery, there are several old wooden buildings and thick-mud-walled buildings. Many of them have been registered as tangible cultural properties of Japan. There are also a Japanese restaurant and Italian restaurant run by the brewery, where you can drink Tamajiman sake or local beer Tama-no-Megumi, which is also brewed by this brewery. On the premises, where big keyaki trees offer visitors comfortable shade, there is a pleasant breeze in summer, and many people visit this place to have a holiday's relaxing time.

I shot the movie below when my friends and I visited Ishikawa Brewery about five years ago. Now, JR Haijima Station has been rebuilt, and the ticket gates are quite different in appearance from those you see at the beginning of the video.

Kanban-musume no longer on shelves?

Kanban-musume (燗番娘: missy in charge of sake warming, literally) from Fukumusume Shuzo is sake packaged in a can, and this can is a self-heating container allowing sake drinkers to easily enjoy drinking warmed sake without any special sake heating device anytime and anywhere.

This is an interesting product, and I wanted to introduce this sake worldwide by making and uploading the movie below. In spite of my effort, I don't lately see this product in liquor shops. Have they discontinued making and selling this product? Is the sake longer on shelves?

Two sakes from Tokyo

Junmai Ginjo Tamura (namazake) (純米吟醸田むら 生)

Tamura Syuzoujou based in Fussa City, Tokyo, started sake-brewing operation in 1822. The brewery has been making sake with the brand name of Kasen (嘉泉). In a recent year, the brewery started making junmai ginjo sake with the new brand name of Tamura (田むら).

According to articles in back numbers of the brewery's mail magazine, Tamura was first planned in collaboration of the brewery and Maishu Center in Hamamatsucho, Minato-ku, and it was first sold in November of 2004. Then, in June of the following year of 2005, it appeared on shelves of general liquor shops. The brewery was regularly issuing the booklet Hinerimochi for its sales promotion, and I remember that an issue of the booklet featured an article about how this sake was born. The article told that the brewery head, master brewer, and sale manager collaborated to realize "ultimate sake." The brewery, whose sake brewing had adopted techniques of Nambu tojis (master brewers of Iwate Prefecture), selected sake rice Ginginga (吟ぎんが) harvested in Iwate Prefecture, milled it down to 55%, and used sake making techniques equivalent to those for daiginjo sake making to produce Tamura.

The namazake (non-pasteurized sake) version of Tamura seems to be shipped two times in a year (in June and in November?), and a liquor shop in Fussa City recently tweeted in its twitter site that it carried Tamura namazake, so I went to the shop and purchased one bottle.

The soft uwadachika (orthonasal aroma) of this sake makes brings me an impression of sweetness of rice, and a sip of the sake enters the mouth very smoothly. Palatability spreads on the tongue and it turns seamlessly into moderate acidity. The taste gently fades out. This sake is not very brilliant sake but it leaves me an elegant impression as a whole.

Junmai Ginjo Kisho (純米吟醸喜正)

Itsukaichi-kaido Street ends at a point close to JR Musashi-itsukaichi Station. The road that runs westwards from here is called Akikawa-kaido Street, and it soon changes its name to Hinohara-kaido Street, further extending westward. If you go along this street to westward about ten minutes by car, you will get to the place called Tokura, where Nozaki Syuzou is located.

By the way, the district around the JR Musashi-itsukaichi Station including Tokura was formerly called Itsukaichi Town, which is now included in Akiruno City. Itsukaichi developed as a trading center of charcoal yielded in the nearby Hinohara village, and the town was also known for its cloth products named Kurohachijo. So, the place enjoyed its prosperity and I guess that people in this district have been drinking Kisho, which is made by Nozaki Syuzou since olden days.

Nozaki Syuzou seems to be a small brewery with relatively small sake production. You can find liquor shops selling sake from the brewery in Akiruno City and other towns, cities, and villages in the vicinity. However, it is difficult to find such shops in the urban area of Tokyo and in other prefectures.

Sake whose consumption is limited to its production place and nearby areas is surely influenced by the taste of people living there. So, such sake should probably be called jizake (local sake). Whenever I drink Kisho, I feel a yearning for something unsophisticated, unaffected, and ingenuous that is implied by the word jizake.

As to Kisho, usually, I prefer drinking junmai sake to more high class sake, but the other day, I got and drank Junmai Ginjo Kisho enjoying some luxury.

This Junmai Ginjo Kisho has a very gentle and mild taste. Most sake tastes better at room temperature rather than when chilled. The taste of this sake is also better at room temperature than when chilled. So, I warmed it up lukewarmly to make nuru-kan (ぬる燗: around 40 degrees C (104 degrees F)). Elegant sweetness and flavor and gentle aroma expanding in the mouth are well balanced wonderfully. A faint banana-like aroma is consistently harmonizing with the palatability of the sake as if moderate background music were playing.

Hakata Nerizake

Amazake is a sweet beverage, which is often made by preparing mixture of water, sugar, and sakekasu (sake lees) and then heating it. Another method of making amazake, traditional method, is to use mixture of rice koji, rice, and water, and amazake made in this method has mild sweetness deriving from rice koji.　　

People tend to think this beverage is something to be drunk in winter, but people in old times drank it in summer because it was considered to be very nutritious and to be a good cure for summer weariness. Actually, the beverage, being rich in vitamins B1, B2, and B6, folic acid, dietary fiber, oligosaccharide, amino acid such as cystein, arginine, and glutamine, and a large amount of glucose, is often referred to as "drinking drip infusion."　　

By the way, I recently found some interesting beverage being sold in a nearby liquor shop. It is called "Hakata Nerizake." Hakata is the name of a place in Fukuoka Prefecture, Kyushu, and Nerizake can be interpreted as sake made by grinding or kneading something. According to the description on the packaging carton, Nerizake is made in the following way: Prepare mixture of rice and glutinous rice, and make lactic acid fermentation occur in the mixture. Add rice, rice koji, and water to the fermented lactic acid mixture, and further ferment it. Then, grind the fermented mixture with a mortar and strain it with silk cloth. The made beverage has 3% of alcohol. It tastes very nice with a sweet and sour flavor.

Amazake is something made by fermenting (saccharifying) rice and rice koji while sake is made by fermenting (saccharifying) rice and rice koji, and generating alcoholic fermentation with help of yeast. So, this Nerizake, having sweetness and acidity with a low alcohol content, can probably be placed somewhere between amazake and sake.

Incidentally, the label on the bottle bears an indication of "清酒" (sake), telling that this beverage is classified as sake according to the Japan's Liquor and Tax Law.

I hardly feel alcohol in this sake because of an alcohol content as low as 3%, and enjoyed it like soft drink. However, this is priced at 1575 yen for 500-ml bottle, which means over 2200 yen if it bottled in a 720-ml bottle. So, this can be said to be quite expensive sake. If this was less expensive, I could probably drink it quite often.

Kagatobi

A convenience store in my neighborhood carries the junmai sake named Kabatobi Gokukan Junmai (加賀鳶 極寒純米) made by Fukumitsuya Sake Brewery. Fukumitsuya, based in Kanazawa City in Ishikawa Prefecture, is known for its adherence to making of junmai sake, and I hear the brewery is making only junmai sake (no brewing alcohol-added sake).

A 720-ml bottle of this Kagatobi is sold at a quite reasonably price of 1050 yen, but its flavor is never cheap. At the first sip, I felt that this was sweet sake. Then my taste buds began to recognize its acidity, and the salivary glands were stimulated. Now, my palate was awoken and tasted the sake flavor happily and sufficiently. Then, shortly, the taste of sake faded away quickly. Oh, I knew this is the junmai sake!

This sake is also nice when warmed.

Kanzake (warmed sake) temperatures

Hinaka-kan (日向燗, "sunbathing warm"): Around 30 degrees C (86 degrees F)

Hitohada-kan (人肌燗, "body warm"): Around 35 degrees C (95 degrees F)

Nuru-kan (ぬる燗, "lukewarm "): Around 40 degrees C (104 degrees F)

Joh-kan (上燗, "nicely warm"): Around 45 degrees C (113 degrees F)

Atsu-kan (熱燗, "hot"): Around 50 degrees C (122 degrees F)

Tobikiri-kan (飛び切り燗, "piping hot"): Around 55 degrees C (131 F) or hotter

Went to Kawagoe and retuned with Kagamiyama happily

I heard they were holding a spring festival in Kawagoe City, Saitama Prefecture. So, friends and I went there for a walk and sightseeing.

We met around at noon at Honkawagoe Station. First, we wanted to eat something for lunch, and one of us made a phone call to a restaurant Furin, where we often eat sushi and drink Kagamiyama sake, the sake brewed in Kawagoe. Unfortunately and as I expected, their seats were fully reserved. The restaurant seems to have a lot of customers at festival time.

On a shopping street close to the station, we found a sushi restaurant and entered it. Since they carried neither Kagamiyama sake nor Coedo beer, we did not drink any alcoholic beverages there, and just ate sushi and went out. When we went out of the restaurant, there was a sprinkling of rain on the street. We went northwards along the shopping street, and saw the commercial compound of Kurari ahead on the right, where defunct Kagamiyama Shuzo brewery (different brewery from current Koedo Kagamiyama Shuzo) used to be making sake. On the premises of this compound, a festival float called Iemitsu no Dashi was exhibited.

(Kawagoe Spring Festival -- video shot on May 5, 2011)

We entered a building of Kurari and I bought some sweets for a souvenir. Then, I drank Coedo beer and Kagamiyama sake at the drinking stand.

I want to drink Coedo beer and Kagamiyama sake whenever I visit Kawagoe City except for when I am driving a car. First, I had white beer made from wheat, and then Kagamiyama sake. Three of us tasted sake of this brand but each had a different type so that we could share and taste three types. One friend ordered Bizen-Omachi Tokubetsu Junmai Muroka Nama Genshu, the next friend ordered Tobindori Daiginjo Muroka Nama Genshu Shizukuzake, and I ordered Yamadanishiki Junmai Ginjo Muroka Nama Genshu.

(Kagamiyama sake tasting)

The daiginjo sake tasted like milk and had a very beautiful flavor, while my junmai gijo sake was a little cloudy and slightly bitter (this bitterness may have derived from the Yamadanishiki rice used). And I liked the Omachi tokubetu junmai sake. This sake had a vivid and well-balanced taste and left a strong impression.

After getting out of Kurari, it was still raining and did not seem to stop raining soon. We walked for a while, but finally entered a coffee shop and had some coffee to wait until it would stop raining. I ordered a cup of Mandheling coffee, which has a pale brown color, but it tasted thicker than it appears, having plenty of body. After we chattered for a while, the rain seemed to have become light.

So, we got out of the coffee shop, and soon the rain became strong. I didn't know why, but we were not very lucky about the weather on this day.

Anyway, I encountered that super nice sake, Kagamiyama Bizen-Omachi Tokubetsu Junmai Muroka Nama Genshu, and could buy a bottle of it. So, I was very happy.

Sake "Sugi-no-mori" of Ｎａｒａｉ Inn Town

Narai is an old inn town located in Shiojiri City, Nagano Prefecture. The town is on the Nakasendo that connected Edo (Tokyo in the present day) and Kusatsu-juku (Kusatsu City, Shiga Prefecture in the present day). The roughly 1-km-long main street of the town is lined with inns and various shops including local food shops selling oyaki, goheimochi, buckwheat noodles, or sweets, lacquer ware shops, Japanese pickle shops, liquor shops selling local sake, and craft shops.

The sake brewery Sugi-no-mori Shuzo is also located on the main street of this inn town. I searched for a Web site of this brewery but could not find such a site. Maybe it does not have one. This company seems to have gained in popularity through word of mouth.

Recently, my sake-drinking friends and I attended a bus tour that traveled to Narai and other sightseeing spots. In this tour, we stopped at this old town for about 50 minutes, so we dropped in this brewery.

There was a big cedar ball under the eaves of the brewery building. I think this type with a straw festoon is very rare.

I bought a bottle of Junmai Ginjo Suginomori at this shop. At this time, the shopkeeper gave me some plastic cups so that we could enjoy the sake in the bus on the way home.

After leaving the last sightseeing destination of Takato Joshi Koen, an old castle ruin park, which is famous for its cherry blossoms, the bus traveled from Takato Town to Chino City.

In the bus, when I opened the cap of the sake bottle I bought at Narai, the bus was running along the winding road that climbed up to Tsuetuki Pass. My sake cup in which I poured some sake, sometimes slid on the tiny table attached on the backrest of the seat in front of me. I had to be very careful and needed to hold my sake bottle and cup to prevent them from toppling or falling down. I gradually began to feel dizzy from the bus movement on the road with frequent curves and it became difficult to continue drinking the sake. What is worse, after passing Tsuetsuki Pass, the descending road was much steeper than the ascending one and it had many hairpin bends. I was sure that this was the most unsuitable condition for drinking sake.

Therefore, I shot the video I provided below while the bus was in rest in the parking lot of souvenir shop Oginoya that was located just close to the Suwako interchange on Chuo Jidoshado Express Highway (in a shaky bus, I need another hand to shoot video while holding a sake cup in my left hand and sake bottle in my right hand). I used my cell phone camera to shoot this, so picture and audio quality is not very good.

Although this is a junmai ginjo sake, its aroma is quite subdued, and flavor is unaffected. So, I recommend this sake for someone who wants to enjoy carefully a substantial flavor or acidity of junmai sake. Many people describe such sake as being flinty and dry, but this sake exhibits a bold and impressive taste deriving from koji rice, and just "flinty" or "dry" is not a right word for describing this sake.

Anyway, after the bus finally entered the express highway from the Suwako interchange, the seat is no longer shaky. So, we resumed enjoying the sake in peace. I like a bus tour because, unlike a drive trip, I don't need to drive a car and can drink sake freely.

Please watch other video works at Ichibay Channel.

Drinking sake cool, diluted, and then warmed

Umenoyado Tokubetsu Junmai Muroka Nama Genshu Kimoto (梅乃宿 特別純米無濾過生原酒 生酛) is non-pasteurized sake, which gives a strong impression. It may have too bold but is certainly my favorite sake.

Nonetheless, I tried to moderate its boldness somewhat by adding some water to it. The sake, after water being added, became quite acid and crisp. This was for me very interesting change in taste.

And then, I warmed this sake. First, it tasted sweetish and it seemed that the originally well-balanced sweetness and acidity became more separate from each other and more discernible. However, it turned, when I drank the warmed sake with supper, that this warmed sake could be paired well with various foods.

The taste of one sake varies depending on how you like it. This is interesting.

Sake tasting

Last Saturday, I attended a sake drinking party held in an izakaya in Tachikawa City.

This izakaya is holding sake drinking parties at a rate of twice a year and gather their frequent customers to a party. This time, attendees paid reasonable admittance of 5,000 yen and could drink almost all the types of sake at this izakaya. So, this was a nice reasonable party for sake drinkers.

We had a sake tasting game during the party. The following is what the tencho, or izakaya manager said to us:

"There are four bottles numbered 1, 2, 3, and 4. Two bottles contain different types of that famed Juyondai, and others contain some other sake. First, taste all the sake types in these bottles, and then you must choose the two bottles that you think are Juyondai. I will give you a glass of very special and expensive sake if you choose the right bottles."

I thought, "I see, this will be difficult for me. To distinguish sake is not very difficult for me, but to name sake is very difficult." So, I decided to use the tactics to select two most balanced and elegant bottles.

Bottle 1: Richness, bouquet, acidity, and other elements were well balanced leaving a favorable impression. I personally loved it, but it had rather strong impact. I think expensive sake is modest in many cases.

Bottle 2: This was rich and elegant. I thought this was a right bottle.

Bottle 3: I felt a strong alcoholic impression and I didn't like it very much. So, I excluded this bottle from the candidates.

Bottle 4: Clear and light sake, and I liked it. Someone told me that this tasted like an alcohol added sake version of bottle 2, and I agreed with her.

So, I chose bottles 2 and 4. However, actually the correct bottles were bottle 2 and bottle 3. The no. 3 bottle I first excluded from the candidates was Juyondai Honmaru. Incidentally, the one I liked best was Sasaichi from Yamanashi Prefecture. As to bottle 4, I forget the name.

Speaking of sake tasting, the izakaya carried two types of NINE from Tsuji Honten. One was namazake, non-pasteurized sake, and the other was hiire, pasteurized sake. So, I compared them.

I first drank this sake in autumn of 2010. It was a hiyaoroshi sake. Then, I found this was my taste.

(In the article "NINE and sake with a self-heating system" I wrote at that time, there is the following description: From this name of bodaimoto, I thought that the flavor of the sake was old-fashioned and crude. No, this is very sophisticated sake. It is very rich in taste and, at the same time, delicate. I like the moderate sweetness of this sake. This is hiyaoroshi sake, which means the sake has been pasteurized once. However, I hardly feel anything caused by pasteurization, and the flavor of this sake gives me a crispy and brisk impression of namazake.)

In the party this time, when I drank the hiire, I felt a bit of bouquet caused by aging and richness in taste, and I thought this was tasty. And, just in front of me was some fatty nice sashimi, making good paring with this sake. Then, I tried the namazake, this was clear and a bit young, leaving a remote impression. It seemed to be shiboritate and too fresh, but maybe it would become mature after some period of aging. Interesting!

Well, I selected the movie below for today. The sake I am drinking in the movie is Sawanoi Risshun Asashibori, which is another shiboritate, but enough enjoyable.

Amusement park where a sake sommelier resides

If you plan to stay in the Tokyo area in this winter and want to have some special sake experience, I would recommend you to visit the amusement park Yomiuriland. The park is now holding a limited-time event named Jewellumination. This is an electric spectacular event, which ornaments the park with LED lights of seven jewelry colors.



And, you must think what this illuminations event has to do with sake? Actually, one of my drinking friends is a key person in food service of this event. They have set up food stands named "Jewel Hot Dining" on the park premises under his instructions. However, he is not an ordinary manager, but he is a kikisake-shi (sake sommelier) and a great sake drinker. So, naturally he demanded the restaurant serve his selection of sake bottles and other favorite alcohol beverages as well as foods to be paired with these drinks. The Jewel Hot Dining consists of five food stands, and one of them is, thus, providing alcohol beverages and foods. There, you can enjoy wonderful electric illumination with nice sake, beer, whisky, and other beverages.

The menu includes the following sake names:

Sake:
  Dassai (獺祭)
  Houken (宝剣)
  Oroku Kei (王祿の渓)
  Okunokami (屋守)
  Kamoshibito Kuheiji (醸し人九平次)
  Jikon (而今)
  Ugo-no-Tsuki (雨後の月)
  etc.

Warm Sake:
  Daishichi Junmai Kimoto (大七純米生酛)
  etc.

Other alcohol beverages on the menu include local draft beers, wines, cocktails, whiskies, shochu, awamori.

You know, this is not an izakaya restaurant specialized in sake, but a mere food stand temporarily set up in the park!

Besides, the sake sommelier did not fail to give consideration to one thing especially important for drinkers. He demanded there should be public lavatories close to the food stands, and actually temporary facilities have been set up for these food stands. So, we drinkers can continue drinking at ease.




I asked a waitress at the food stand whether she likes sake, and she said she had not been drinking sake before, and have not known sake was so nice. I am pleased if young people like her become more familiar with sake and understand the virtue of sake.

Access:
  Get off the train at Keio Yomiuriland Mae on Keio Sagamihara Line.
  Take Sky Shuttle Gondola to the main gate.

Jewllumination & Jewel Hot Dining Operating Period:
  November 11, 2011 to March 11, 2012
  (For operation days, check the calendar:

"Ichiban-gumi" and "Shiboritate"

I got to Sawanoi-en at around 10 o'clock. It was a bit rainy.

On October 22nd, Ozawa Syuzou, the brewer of Sawanoi sake, held an open-brewery event. Many people who love Sawanoi sake gathered at brewery for the brewery's sake including this year's new brew.

Since I saw many people getting off the train at Sawai Station and they were undoubtedly heading for the brewery, I expected the brewery would get crowded soon. I knew many of these people would first buy tickets for the sake tasting. They could enter a brewery's building, where every type of Sawanoi sake bottles was placed on tables so that they could taste the sake. However, I decided to skip the sake tasting this year. I passed by the ticket selling place, headed for the Sawanoi-en rest station, bought a small bottle of warmed sake and oden, and occupied a table, because I anticipated that my friends would join me later.

Warmed sake with oden was a good starter for this day's long lasting "drinking party."



It is a bit cold and warmed sake is especially nice in such conditions.

Soon, the rest station began crowded. People, apparently a family, came to my table and asked if they could share the table with me. When a drinking place is crowded, people must make mutual concessions and have a good time over sake. So, of course, I let them sit at my table with pleasure. Saying they were from Mitaka City, they were admiring a beautiful Tama River running by the pavilion of the rest station. Actually, the water was murky due to the rain and it was not very beautiful to me. I somewhat in a roundabout way said, "In fine weather, the river is clearer." Nevertheless, the young woman, seemingly a daughter of the middle-aged couple, seemed to be satisfied with the sight, saying, "The river is beautiful all the same."

I thought maybe they were great lovers of nature.

Later on, my friends, acquaintances, and those who came with them joined me. Now, we were five people and our table became crowded and lively. The place was a bit cramped for room but it was pleasant to drink with many people.

On this day, we chiefly drank Shiboritate and Ichiban-gumi. Both were non-pasteurized new sake. Many said that they liked Ichiban-gumi better than Shiboritate, but I preferred Shiboritate. However, as we continue drinking or as we got drunk, the difference between them became insignificant.



（To be continued）

Ge-ge-ge no Nemurizake

Recently, when I went to Yamanashi Prefecture for picking grape in a grape farm, I dropped in Sasaichi, a sake brewery in Ohtsuki City. There, I bought a bottle of sake named "Ge-ge-ge no
Nemurizake" (the bottle has a label on which a picture of the Japan's cartoon or anime hero Ge-ge-ge no Kitaro is drawn). Sasaichi is selling several types of sake that have characters from anime, movies, TV programs, etc. on their labels. For example, there are Ken-oh (an alias name of Raoh from the action anime "Fist of North Star"), Alien Baltan (an alien who has a head resembling a cicada and big claws like a lobster from Ultraman, an SF TV drama), and others. It is interesting to me that I can see such characters on sake labels.



Well, "Nemurizake" literally means sleeping sake, so will I get sleepy if I drink this? Or, was this named so because it had been sleeping? Actually, this junmai ginjo sake had been sleeping in a wine barrel for aging (Sasaichi is also producing wine and they used their wine barrels for aging sake).

By the way, one of my problems is that I often get sleepy when I drink sake, even when I was with a good-looking lady. It doesn't mean I drink too much and get sick. I am just having a doze for a short break. Usually, I will get awake in 30 minutes to an hour, and become able to continue drinking normally. I remember my grandfather, who was a heavy drinker, also had a similar drinking style, often having a doze when drinking, and starting drinking after a while. So, maybe, I inherit my grandfather's drinking style.

Now, I will write about my experiences that somewhat troubled me due to my being prone to have a doze while drinking.

The first story I am telling you occurred when my friends and I were drinking in an izakaya. At that time, I got sleepy as usual, while the others were enjoying chat over sake. I was sleeping comfortably with my head in my arms at the table, faintly hearing the friends enjoying sake.

According to my friend, the izakaya mistress came to our table while I was sleeping and said,
"Oh, this man is sleeping."
One of my friends answered,
"He is all right, just having a short break, and we will continue drinking here and order other foods and sake." (She was suggesting that we did not intend to use this restaurant just as a sleeping place and were willing to order additional foods and sake.)
Then, this mistress insisted,
"A person who falls into a doze while drinking tends to get sick badly, so you should leave this place with him now."
In this way, we were driven out of this izakaya, although we had not drunk enough. I feel sorry for those who were with me at that time. Anyway, the izakaya had to be more generous to allow me to have just a short doze, hadn't they?

At another time, I went to another izakaya for some sake with a lady. We sat at the counter and started drinking. Then, I got sleepy as usual. Although I felt sorry for her, I had just a short doze.

It seemed that she, being bored having no one to speak with, ordered various foods and sake, and drank and ate and drank and drank.

When I woke up, I knew she had completely got drunk and couldn't make even a step. It took maybe more than 20 minutes to reach the station dragging her while it would take just a minute or so under normal conditions. So, I had such a hard time then. And, I learned I should never make a lady drink alone in some ways.

Anyway, as to this Ge-ge-ge no Nemurizake, in my personal opinion, I felt it was somewhat gaudy in taste and not easy to drink. Maybe, there is a good food pairing or good way of drinking for this sake.

Four Tokyo Sakes

Recently, I drank four types of sake that come from my neighboring three cities of Fussa, Akiruno, and Ome. The sakes are Tamajiman (多満自慢), Kasen (嘉泉), Kisho (喜正), and Sawanoi (澤乃井). They are all namazake (nonpasteurized sake) of honjozo or tokubetsu honjozo.



These sakes are those I often drink without paying any special attention, but this time I compared them with each other, and could find differences between them. Interesting.

Ishikawa Brewery Tamajiman Namataro (石川酒造 多満自慢 生太郎) Honjozo Namazake
Tasty sake with a rich namazake flavor, slight sweetness, and meaningful taste

Tamura Shuzoujou Kasen (田村酒造場 嘉泉) Tokubetsu Honjozo Nama
Dry sake with a flinty clean-cut taste. It also exhibits a flavor of koji, giving a bold impression.

Nozaki Syuzou Kisho (野崎酒造 喜正) Honjozo Nama
Sake with a flavor of namazake and meaningfulness. Impressive sake.

Ozawa Syuzou Sawanoi (小澤酒造 澤乃井) Honjo Nama
A dry and clean taste with acidity.

I don't intend to say which one is nice or which one is bad. However, in terms of my preference, I would choose Kisho. I myself usually do not think of pairing with foods and just drinking sake without food is also O.K. with me. In such a case, flinty clean dry sake with rather strong acidity like Sawanoi Honjo Nama may not be suitable for drinking it singly. However, such sake is maybe nice when you are eating various foods.