Nokanro, a Long-awaited Item for Sake Lovers, Finally Commercialized

I am pleased to report readers of my blog that Nokanro, a commercialized product that has the same functionality as that of what is called kandouko, which I several times wrote about in past posts of this blog.

Sake lovers sometimes drink their sake warm. Actually, some types of sake are very nice when they are warmed. However, to enjoy warmed sake, it is very important that you warm your sake in a proper way to a proper temperature.

A microwave oven is a useful device for warming sake. However, it tends to happen that sake is warmed unevenly; some part of the sake becomes hot, and some part remains still cold.

An alternative to the microwave oven is to place a flask containing sake in hot water and leave it until the sake becomes hot. You put some water in the pan, place the pan on a gas stove, place the flask containing sake in the water in the pan, and then wait for the sake to become warm.

Otherwise, you can use a dedicated sake warmer. There are various types of sake warmer products. You can execute Google image search with the keywords "sake warmer" to view different sake warmers. Some products use electricity to warm sake, and some are designed to be used on a gas stove. There are those that are just containers made of thermal material to contain hot water; sake flasks are just placed in them and left until the sake becomes warm.

Among these various sake warmer types, there is one that uses charcoal fire. A sake warmer of this type is called kandouko (or nokanro).

The figure below shows the structure of the kandouko, which is a gadget usually made of copper, and is basically a water tank with an embedded brazier. As shown in the figure, the gadget holds some amount of water, warms the water with heat of charcoal fire burning in the brazier. Since the kandouko is not so large, you can use it on a table, where you drink sake.

You place a flask of sake in the heated water in the tank, to warm your sake. While you wait for your sake to become warm, you can cook some foods such as dried fish on the grill placed over the charcoal fire. So, the bottom line is, amazingly, the kandouko serves as not only a sake warmer but also a small tabletop cooker!

The microwave oven is handy, but you need to leave the table every time you make a helping of sake. The same thing can be said to using a pan containing water on a gas stove. Using a tabletop device like a kandouko eliminates the need to leave the table for helpings. Moreover, cooking some foods on a kandouko adds to pleasure of sake drinking.

The kandouko is not so large and heavy, so you can bring it to a deck or porch, or outdoors. You can enjoy sake with the kandouko when you go out for camping, fishing, or just relaxing in the nature.

Having read the above, if you are a great sake fan, you may have become wanting to own a kandouko. Kandoukos are sold in antique shops or in net auctions, and I have actually purchased some of them in net auctions. I think it was difficult for people living outside Japan to purchase one (these items are usually not exported). However, a new company named Jipang Works has lately been established and started selling a product named "Nokanro,"the very revival of kandouko.

The following is the link of the site of this product.

http://www.nokanro.com/

Before this product appeared in the market, brand-new kandoukos were hardly sold (I know there was one shop selling brand-new kandoukos but the price was far from affordable), and the only practical choice to own a kandouko was to make a successful bid in a net auction or find and buy one in an antique shop.

Now that Jipang Works started selling its Nokanro, it has become easier to own a kandouko because you can buy the Nokanro. The Nokanro is sold at a price of 31,000 yen (including 8% consumption tax). The product includes the main unit, a net grill, a lid for extinguishing charcoal fire, and a fire grate to be placed in the brazier.

If you live in Japan and you buy a kandouko in a net auction, you will pay 5,000 to 20 thousand yen or more for it. So, an antique item is still less expensive than a brand-new Nokanro, However, the new Nokanro looks beautiful and robust.

Lately, sake is gaining in popularity in markets outside Japan. Sake is a beverage that can be enjoyed at various temperatures, and some of the sake fans in foreign countries have noticed this fact and have found pleasure in drinking their sake cold, at a room temperature, lukewarm, warm, or hot, as they like. The more people recognize diverse pleasure of sake, the more people may want to enjoy sake in various ways and styles, including by using a gadget like the Nokanro. So, there must be a growing market of sake warmer like the Nokanro. Actually, when I posted a blog article about the kandouko before, a reader of my blog, inspired by my post, created a handmade kandouko and he wrote about his kandouko in his blog post. Very interesting. I think there must be some people overseas who are willing to buy a Nokanro, and I hope this Nokanro will sell well among not only people in Japan but also those outside the country.

Song of Kandouko Sake Warmer

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.

Hot Sake in Hot Bath

I believe that the practice of enjoying warmed sake constitutes one of the most important parts of the sake culture.

I myself often enjoy warmed sake, and I usually use a kandouko (see "Finally got akandouko (sake warmer)!") to prepare warmed sake. However, if you want to sip sake in a hot bath, I can show you an easy way to prepare warmed sake. This method recently flashed on me. Prepare cup sake and use the following procedure.

1. Leave the cup sake in the bathtub in which hot water is filled.

2. Wait for a while until your warm sake becomes warm enough.

3. Bathe in the bathtub and enjoy warmed sake at the same time.

Usually, the bathtub in a Japanese house is connected with a boiler, which can be used to keep the water in the tub warm. So, you can stay bathing in warm bathtub long enough for having relaxing time over sips of warmed sake.

Kandouko Cooking

Lately, we have quite cool autumn days here in Japan, and I have more chances to enjoy warmed sake than I did in summer time of course.

I chiefly use a kandouko for warming my sake. This is a copper-made gadget for warming sake. The kandouko holds some amount of water within it, and it has built-in brazier in which burning charcoal is placed. The heat from the charcoal warms the water and the warmed water in turn warms sake in a flask, tokkuri, chirori or whatever container placed in the water. While warming sake, you can also cook some foods such as dried fish on the grill placed over the charcoal fire.

So, with the kandouko, you can cook some food while drinking warm sake, and this is my favorite point about the kandouko.

Today, I'd like to introduce two easy canned food recipes using the kandouko.

Enoki-Saba-Misoni (Enokitake mushrooms and Saba mackerel boiled with miso-paste soup)

Ingredients:

One can of Saba-Misoni, 100 g of Enokitake, shredded cheese.

How to cook:

1. Make a small "pan" from aluminum foil, and place it on the brazier.

2. Place Saba-Misoni and Enokitake on the "pan." Adjust the amount of these ingredients so that they can be contained in the "pan."

3. Wait until the ingredients are boiled, then put some shredded cheese on them.

4. When the cheese is melted, the food is ready.

The food was a little bit salty from the miso-based soup, so you may want to add some vegetable, such as shredded cabbage, green pepper, etc.

I uploaded a video work demonstrating how to cook this. Then, I got a message from some one, recommending the following recipe:

Saba Flavored with Mayonnaise (boiled Saba mackerel flavored with mayonnaise)

This menu is also easy to prepare. Because I want to prepare food while preparing warm sake, my kandouko cooking menu must be cooked only on the small brazier of the kandouko and must be easy to prepare.

Ingredients:

One can of Saba Mizuni (plainly boiled Saba mackerel), mayonnaise, ground pepper, soy sauce, and green onion (green part)

How to cook:

1. Open the can of Saba Mizuni, and place the can on the brazier.

2. When the contents of the can are boiled, add mayonnaise, ground pepper, and soy sauce.

3. Then, add chopped green onion.

4. Crumble the blocks of Saba mackerel and mix the ingredients together.

I am not sure about the amount of each ingredient but if you use too much of each ingredient, they may overflow from the can. Maybe, you may want to use a small pan instead of just directly put the can on the brazier.

Hiyaoroshi Season

It is September now, and it is a special season for sake lovers, the season of hiyaoroshi.

Hiyaoroshi is a type of the sake that is pasteurized after being pressed in winter or early spring, then aged in a cool storage house until summer is over, and then bottled without undergoing the process of second-time pasteurization (many sake products are pasteurized twice).

Many of the breweries in Tokyo are now shipping their hiyaoroshi products. So, I called the liquor shop I patronize to bring me two bottle of hiyaoroshi. They are Kasen Tokubetsu Honjozo Hiyaoroshi and Sawanoi Hiyaoroshi.

We still have some hot summery days between series of autumnal fresh days, but regardless of its being hot or cool, I'm enjoying autumn flavor.

The owner of the liquor shop, when bringing me these bottles, told me that the Sawanoi Hiyaoroshi of this year was especially good and recommended me to have it lukewarm. Probably, my sake warmer kandouko will be busy from this September until next spring.

Movie -- "The Song of Kandouko"

Yudofu and Matsutake-sake party

Recently, I bought an interesting sake product from the shop of Reijin Shuzo (麗人酒造) in Suwa, Nagano Prefecture. This is called Matsutake-sake, a bottle of sake with matsutake mushrooms in it. Matsutake is very popular and expensive mushroom and Japanese people like matsutake so much that they import the mushroom from China, Canada, and other countries.

In the bottle, there are cut matsutake. So, I thought, we could grill and eat the mushroom while drinking this sake, and I called some friends to held a party.

Another theme of the party was yudofu. Yudofu means boiled tofu. We place pieces of tofu in hot water to warm up them, and enjoy tofu hot. To enjoy the original taste of tofu at the maximum, we boil tofu just with a piece of kombu (kelp, or Laminaria japonica), and no complex recipe is necessary. We dip the warmed tofu in soy-based sauce and eat it.

And, to make the party more attractive, this time I introduced a new device for yudofu, which is called yudofu-oke (wooden pail for making hot tofu). The pail is made of sawara cypress and equipped with a brazier in which burning charcoal is to be placed. When you put water in the pail and burning charcoal in the brazier, the heat of the charcoal warms the water. So, you put cut tofu pieces in the water to warm them up.

However, I had some problems about the yudofu-oke. The opening of the brazier was small and I can put only small pieces of charcoal in the brazier. Also, the brazier itself is not very big to contain much charcoal. Maybe, yudofu should not be eaten at so high a temperature, or I can preheat water with another pan or kettle.

By the way, the small pot with handle set on the yudofu-oke (see the picture below) is for warming the sauce for yudofu. You just put some sauce in the pot and set the pot on the yudofu-oke. However, if you love warmed sake, I think you can put your sake in the pot and set it on the pail to warm it.

Well, what about the matsutake sake? The sake was in a 1.8-litter bottle, and I had some difficulty to take out the mushrooms. The mushrooms were first floating in the upper part of the sake, but later they sank deep in the bottle. So we need to empty the bottle first. We were five people, and some kindly brought 720-ml bottles of sake. So, we had another three 720-ml bottles. After emptied these three bottles, emptying another big bottle was hard for us. After all, I needed to move some of the sake to an emptied small bottle.

The matsutake sake has a slight smell of the matsutake mushrooms. The mushrooms, which we grilled and ate, tasted alcoholic from being soaked in the sake for a long time. 

Warmed sake -- finding another charm of sake

I sometimes read articles about sake seminars or events held outside Japan, and it seems that they drink sake chilled or at a room temperature in most cases and drinking sake warm is not very popular overseas.

The Japanese have been enjoying warmed sake for a long time, or they even thought that sake was a beverage to be drunk warmed. In recent years, premium sake such as ginjo, junmai ginjo, or daiginjo sake became widely sold in the general market in Japan, and people began to enjoy these high-end sake products. In most cases, they loved to drink these sakes chilled, while many people continued to drink low-priced regular sake warmed.

So, which is the better way to drink sake, warmed or chilled?

Well, let's think of what happens to sake when it is warmed.

When sake is warmed, it sometimes increases in its foreign, objectionable taste, sometimes increases in its sweetness, sometimes increases in its acidity, and sometimes increases in its good flavors. So, if you warm sake successfully, you may be able to enjoy it better.

Premium sake, especially ginjo sake, is delicately made and such sake is difficult to warm properly, because warming sake tends to detract from its good flavor balance. In addition, ginjo sake, generally, is sufficiently enjoyable without being warmed because it has a clear flavor and a less foreign, objectionable taste. So, people tend not to venture to warm up such sake.

Thus, izakayas or restaurants do not serve warmed premium sake in most cases, and they serve their sake chilled or at a room temperature, instead. In this way, people began to think that only cheap sake is suitable for being warmed and premium sake should not be warmed.

Of course, there is no rule that ginjo sake should not be warmed. There must be beautiful ginjo sake that can be good warmed sake if warmed carefully. Warming up sake may bring about an unexpectedly fascinating flavor (or may ruin delicate balance of flavor).

Actually, I have some successful experiences about warming up sake. For example, I warmed clean and elegant-taste ginjo sake to make it nurukan (lukewarm sake at a temperature of around 40 degrees C or 104 degrees F), getting a result of enhanced acidity, which made better pairing with food. This is a kind of "discovery," and I am often excited at such "discovery," realizing the profundity and charm of the sake world.

By the way, the following expressions are sometimes used regarding warmed sake:

• kan-agari (燗上がり): The state in which the sake taste has been enhanced by warming it
• aji ga hiraku (味が開く): The taste of sake that is not recognized very much when it is cold becomes discernible by warming it.
• kaori ga hiraku (香りが開く): The bouquet of sake that is not recognized very much when it is cold becomes discernible by warming it.

As a flower bud which is very firm in the coldness of winter loosens slowly to open in the spring sun to finally enchant us with its fragrant bloom, when some sake that has been stored at a low temperature is warmed, its virtues including its bouquet and flavor that have been confined in itself become more discernible and enhanced.

Since I have experienced fascinating phenomena such as kan-agari, aji ga hiraku, kaori ga hiraku, I have arrived at the conviction that drinking warmed sake occupies a major part of sake drinking pleasure. I even feel that if you miss chances to experience the virtue of warmed sake, you cannot experience half of the virtue of sake.

Antique sake warmer "kandouko"

I never intend to give you assertive instructions regarding how you drink sake. However, I would like you not to declare that ginjo sake should not be warmed, and if you are interested in warmed sake, I want you to try warm up various sake and drink it by yourself. I believe you can find nice ginjo sake that increases in its beauty when warmed. I really want you to have exciting fascinating experiences with warmed sake.

Enjoying sake in various ways

I sometimes drink muroka or muchosei genshu (non-filtered or non-conditioned undiluted sake) after adding some water or some other dry sake to it. This is quite interesting. I quite recently found this way of "processing" sake interesting when I dropped in an izakaya, ordered a muroka namazake (non-filtered non-pasteurized sake) and some dry sake, tasted them together after mixing them, and found mixing two different sakes very interesting.

On the last 20, March, a Japanese national holiday, I received Sawanoi Asagake-no-sake. This sake was special sake sold on a subscription basis, which I had before asked a sake shop to deliver to me.

On that day, I had a short hike on a hill in Ome city, and then visited one of my favorite places, Sawanoi-en. There was the izakaya Sawanosuke, which was a half-open-air sake bar set up in Sawanoi-en. So, I sat there to cure my fatigue from the long walk, and had some beer and sake. After drinking some alcohol, I thought I should skip today's evening drink. However, when I returned home, I found the bottle of Asagake-no-sake had been waiting for me. So, quite naturally, I needed to reward the sake for its having been waiting for me so long by appreciating its taste.

This just-pressed, non-filtered, undiluted sake was still fermenting in its bottle, but since fermentation had not advanced very much, the pressure inside pushed up the cap just slightly when I opened the bottle.

I felt a rich taste and very strong alcohol when I had the first sip. The label on the bottle indicated the alcohol percentage was 19 to 20%. I feel many genshu sakes (undiluted sakes) from this brewery have relatively high alcohol content (when I made umeshu from a genshu of Sawanoi, it had 21 to 22% of alcohol).

On that evening, I drank about 1-go (180 ml) of this sake at a room temperature. Maybe, it will be interesting if I try on the rocks, with water, warmed, or blended with some other sake. I want to try it in many ways.

Today, I provide you the movie showing how I enjoyed the hike I mentioned above. I included the scene where I started walking, departing from Ome Station, to the scene I drank soothing beer at Sawanoioen. This is a relatively long footage of over seven minutes. So, if you have time, enjoy seeing it.

Enjoying blend sake

The Sunday of the last week was a cold day, and my fancy for warmed sake increased. So, I went to Izakaya Sawanosuke at Sawanoien with my friend. They operate this izakaya only on weekends, but this is a nice place to drink warmed sake in the daytime. Actually, since Sawanoien is open only in the daytime, Sawanosuke closes the operations late-afternoon.

Quite unfortunately, Sawanosuke was not operating on that day. Last year, I had also the same experience. It was as if I had known non-business days of the izakaya, and has selected such days. I am so unlucky about this izakaya.

It was a cold day and it was hard to drink cold sake in such a condition. We wanted to leave Sawanoien and go to some warm place to drink sake.

Anyway, we had lunch first at the Mameraku, tofu restaurant, on the premises, and had some sips of sake at Kikisake Dokoro (sake tasting corner) as we usually do when we visit the place. Then, we left Sawanoien for Tachikawa.

We got to Tachikawa around 4 o'clock in the afternoon. It was still too early for normal izakayas to open. However, there are usually some exceptional izakayas. Kaisen Uoriki is one of such exceptional restaurants. So, we entered the Kaisen Uoriki on the south exist-side of Tachikawa Station.

By the way, is this izakaya a chain store? I see Kiasen Uoriki in several places. I know there are at least two Uoriki izakayas in Tachikawa, and there is one in Akishima, so they are probably chain izakayas. In the past, chain izakayas did not carry very good sake, but lately they have good menus. Actually, this Uoriki also had a relatively nice selection of sake.

Otohshi appetizers neatly arranged on a plate were good enough for pairing with sake. As to foods at this izakaya, sashimi was nice, and they had also nice sushi, which you may want to eat as a wind-up food.

We ordered Gazanryu Hazuki Muroka Namazake, which was sake rich in taste and went well with kinmedai kabuto ni (boiled head of an alfonsino fish flavored with soy sauce, sugar, sake, and other seasonings) Then, we ordered Yukimuro, sake from Gunma Prefecture made from Gohyakumangoku sake rice. This was quite dry and flinty sake.

Then, I have an inspiration. I poured some of the half left Gazanryu in my cup and then added Yukimuro to it, blending the two sakes fifty-fifty. This blend sake tasted basically like Gazanryu, but it had increased mildness and sweetness, became easier to drink, and went good with foods. I found that blending two sakes in one's own way was also a pleasure of sake drinking.

And, here is today's video. I compared two warmed Tokyo sakes, Sawanoi and Kasen.

Increasingly, Ichibay big into kandouko (sake warmer)

I wrote about the kandouko sake warmer in a post little time ago, and recently I bought another kandouko in an Internet auction. So, I have two such articles now, and since each one has a sake serving capacity just for two or three drinkers, having two probably allows me to hold a home drinking party for five to six people (I often drink in a group of five or six drinkers).

Anyway, I carried out a test run of my new kandouko.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, I shot video of this test run and made a short movie.

I, who want to introduce warmed sake culture to people all over the world, give explanation of this kandouko in Russian in this movie. One of the preconceptions about Russians prevailing among people is that they are heavy drinkers. So, this time, I decided to make a movie in Russian language so that Russian-speaking people could learn some knowledge about sake. As a matter of fact, the language is not a big issue about this video, which is a good point of many video works. You know, this video is quite comprehensible. You would understand what I am talking about even if I were speaking in Spanish, Thai, Japanese, Chinese, or whatever language in this video.

By the way, I made a successful bid for this beautiful, tasteful article with an old wooden box only for JPY 3900. I think I was very lucky.

This kandouko has rather a shallow brazier with a relatively large caliber, burning charcoal well and heating sake quickly beyond my expectation. Probably, the rounded shape of the device cuts the water capacity, contributing to shortening of the time for warming water and sake. This is an easy-to-use kandouko.

Ichibay lately big into kandouko (sake warmer)

The portable kandouko is a cute and tasteful sake warmer. Since I got a small one in an auction on the Internet, I have often used this device to enjoy warmed sake. It is not such a large device for sufficient and steady supply of warmed sake for five or more drinkers, but it is a cool device for two or three drinkers. Low priced sake such as regular sake, junmai sake, and honjozo sake is good enough with this device.

You pour some water in a kandouko, and place burning charcoal in the brazier in this device. The heat of the charcoal warms up the water. So, you put a flask or another vessel containing sake in the warmed water and wait. Soon, the sake becomes warm.
(For details about the kandouko, see this post: "Finally got a kandouko (sake warmer)!"

The kandouko is not merely a sake warming device, but it also serves as a tiny hibachi. You can set a grill on the brazier and cook some food while warming and sipping your sake. You can grill dried fish, shiitake mushrooms, and other foods. This way of drinking may look somewhat poorish, but it is folksy, and I feel like I can flatter myself that I am a bearer of sake culture.

Lately, I am practicing a new way of using my kandouko; I warm canned food on the brazier

If you are interested in warm sake, how about getting a kandouko?