Kandouko -- Antique Sake Warmers Channel

Recently, I set up a new Youtube channel named "Kandouko -- Antique Sake Warmers."

Unlike my conventional Youtube channel ("いちべー動画チャネル"), this channel is specialized only in the kandouko sake warmer. Since the channel is intended for those who do not understand Japanese, I try to use the English language to explain the contents (narration, subtitles, and language spoken by me in video).

For now, the channel includes 9 uploaded video works, and other video works selected from the "いちべー動画チャネル."

The following is the newest contents as of June 28, 2018.

I hope everyone can enjoy my video and gets familiar with this intriguing device called "kandouko."

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.

Celebrating New Year for the Emperor at the Imperial Palace

On January 2 of this year, I paid a visit to the Imperial Palace to celebrate New Year for the Emperor and other imperial families.

This was my first experience to enter the premises of the Imperial Palace, and I was impressed to see so many people with the same intention as mine gathering in the square in front of the palace (a total of over 80 thousand people paid a visit the Imperial Palace on this day).

Being one among those tens of thousands of visitors, I was waiting for the appearance of His Imperial Majesty and other imperial families. At around 11 o'clock, as soon as they appeared on the deck, the visitors started waving Japanese national flags and praising aloud His Imperial Majesty, wishing him health and longevity. Then, His Majesty and families responded by waving us.

At this time, I felt that all the visitors in that place were spiritually bound with each other as subjects of His Majesty, and realized that the Emperor makes our nation what it is now. Maybe, Japanese are unaware why Japan is what it is now, that Japan is what it is now because of His Majesty. Then, a thought came to me that whenever facing hardship, we can work as one to overcome it because of the fact that we have His Majesty.

Finally, let me add this: one of the greatest things about our Emperor is that the Emperor of Japan boasts the world's longest history of bloodline. Our Emperor is the 125'th generation of the bloodline that started from the first Emperor Jinmu.

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.

Bathing in a Yuzu Bath

Japanese people have a practice of taking a bath in a special way on the day of the winter solstice. They put some yuzu orange fruits in the bathtub and then bathe.

It is said that taking a yuzu bath helps prevent you from catching a cold. The rind of the fruit contains ingredients that are effective in blood circulation promotion and maintaining beautiful skin. Of course, the aroma of the yuzu fruit relaxes you. Then, there is no reason for me to take a yuzu bath.

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"

Making loquat liqueur

In the side yard of my house, there is a loquat tree. No one planted this tree. It seems to have come out from a seed, and have grown up. Now, it produces a lot of loquat fruits in June every year. My family enjoy eating these fruits. However, the tree is too bountiful for us to consume all the fruits and we usually left quit a lot on the branches and let birds to peck them.

This year, I picked these fruits and made loquat liqueur.

The following is how I made the loquat liqueur:

Ingredients

 Loquats                        500 g

 Lemons                           2

 Crystal sugar                 50 g

 Distilled spirit (shochu)  900 ml

1. Put the loquats, lemons, and sugar in a disinfected preserve jar, and then add the distilled spirit.

2. Store it avoiding direct sunlight and high temperature.

After three months of aging, the loquat liqueur will be ready to be drunk.

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!

Cherry Blossom in the Vicinity of the Hamura Diversion Weir

This year, it quickly gets warmer and warmer after the arrival of March. It even seems to me that Japan is skipping spring and just directly jumping from winter into summer. All the cherry trees across the country are hasting to bloom. The cherry tree in the garden of my house also started blooming. So, the day before yesterday (March 20), I went out to the Hamura Diversion Weir to check how the cherry trees there are blooming.

(Filmed on March 20,2013)

The trees had just started blooming, but I know they will quickly reach their culmination and then turn into foliage. Probably, we will be able to see the trees in full bloom at the next weekend and we could enjoy blossoms quite much even this weekend.

Hamura City, where the Hamura Diversion Weir is located, holds "はむら花と水のまつり (Hamura Flower and Water Festival)" in this time of the year (from March 27 to April 15 for this year). The festival is originally seemed to have been planned so that you could enjoy cherry blossom around the weir in the first half of the festival period, and tulip flowers planted in the rice paddy fields located upstream from the weir in the last half.

For cherry blossom viewing, for this year, I guess you should come to Hamura in March. It may be too late to come on the first weekend of April.

The city will hold some festival events on the second weekend of April, including Dashi no Hikiawase (they compete with one another in how well they play their bamboo flutes and drums on their festival floats) on 13th and Mikoshi no Kawaire (they carry the portable shrine and go into the Tama river) on 14th although I think it will be too late for also enjoying cherry blossom viewing at this time.

(Dashi no Hikikawase last year: Filmed on April 7, 2012 at JR Hamura Station)

If unfortunately you cannot make it by the right time of cherry blossom viewing, you will still be able to go upstream to see tulip flowers (tulip flowers can be see until the middle of April).

Cherry blossoms filmed on April 10 last year (on the bank upstream the Hamura Diversion Weir). The cherry blossoms come into bloom far earlier than usual.

(Cherry blossoms upstream of the weir: Filmed on April 10, 2012)

If you prefer bustling atmosphere of the festival, I recommend you to walk around the Hamura Bridge; there are food and drink stands here and there, monkey show, and even footbath service using hot spring water brought from distant onsen places. If you are a person who loves a quieter environment, you can walk upstream to the bank along the river, where cherry trees are planted and you can admire blossoms sitting under a tree in a relaxing mood.

Drinking at Okunitama Shrine

There is a big shrine called Okunitama Shrine in Fuchu City, Tokyo. On New Year’s Day, a lot of people visit the shrine to offer prayers, and commercial business people set up their food stands along the approach way to the shrine building to provide these visitors with food and drink services. On a festival day of a specific shrine or temple, you can often see its approach way flanked by food and drink stands selling ringo-ame (candy-coated apples), tako-yaki (octopus dumplings), yakisoba (pan-fried noodles), and even tornado potato and doner kabab. There are also those who are selling shellfishes such as turban shells and scallops grilled on charcoal fire. This seems to be a nice place for those who want to drink during the daytime. So, having nothing to do in particular during the New Year’s Holidays, I asked one of my drinking friends to come with me to this place.

This was the first opportunity for going out for drink this year, and I felt I could not wait to have nice grilled seafood and sake, but I first gave my respects to the god. This Okunitama Shrine is said to have been built in 111 A.D., during the period of the Twelfth Emperor Keiko. The enshrined god is Okunitama-no-okami, also known as Okuninushi-no-mikoto.

I stood facing the front shrine, threw a coin into the offertory box, and gave prayers to the god, “please, let me drink a lot of nice sake also in this year.” The enshrined god Okuninushi-no-mikoto is worshiped as a god of nation building, agriculture, commerce, medicine, etc. Will the god satisfy my desire, a quite earthly one?

Anyway, I finished what I had to do. Now, I can drink to my heart’s content.

There are a lot of stands and makeshift restaurants on both sides of the approach way, selling various foods and drinks. Among them, there is an area above which a large sheet is set up to serve as a roof. Under the sheet were tables and chairs, and various food and drink stands such as takoyaki, yakisoba, and hamayaki (charcoal-grilled shellfish) stands. There are also sake, beer, and other drinks. You can buy any food or drink at any stand, bring what you bought to a table, and eat and drink them.

Sake sold there are Hakutsuru, Sawanotsuru, etc., which are major brands and popularly drunk across the country. I bought warmed cup sake of Hakutsuru and paired it with a grilled turban shell, scallops, and oyster. I think shellfish tastes nice with sake. Yummy!

Walking along the Okutama Mukashi-michi -- Off-the-beaten Track in Tokyo

Okutama Lake, nestled among mountains in Okutama Town, the western part of Tokyo, is an artificial lake backed up by Ogochi Dam. The construction of the dam started in 1938, and was completed in 1957 after having been interrupted by the war for a period of several years.

From the Okutama Station to Ogochi Dam, you can take a bus, which drives along Japan National Route 411. The road in this section goes along the mountain stream of Tama River, passing through sporadic tunnels. This road is of course essential for people living in this area, but before this road was constructed, they were using an old road, which is now called Okutama Muakashi-michi (literally, old road in Okutama).

Okutama Mukashi-michi, an about 10-km community road, was made in 1899 to replace the about 14-km mountain path connecting the Hikawa district and Ogochi district, and this Okutama Mukashi-michi became a very important path for people in the area. Along the path, there were shrines, temples, teahouses, water vessel for horses bringing baggage or people, etc.

In 1945, the new road, which had been constructed earlier originally for transporting material for the construction of Ogochi Dam, became open to the public, and people became able to use this road for their living. Consequently, the importance of Okutama Mukashi-michi reduced and people became to use the new road more often than this old path.

Some sections of the Okutama Mukashi-michi path are paved with asphalt, and we can see cars and trucks go up and down in these sections. However, some sections are very narrow paths, some sections consist of only a few flights of stairs, and even some sections are mountain trails. There were guideposts at every key location and it is easy for visitors to stay on the right track, and there are benches to take rest and well-maintained public restrooms along the road. So, anyone can enjoy a holiday walk at ease.

It seemed there were many interesting spots to see, and I decided to go for a walk along this road on a late autumn day.

(Start point of the road)

With some food and drink in a daypack, I started Okutama Station about 10:00 a.m., and soon reached the start point of Okutama Mukashi-michi. From the beginning, I needed to walk up a steep asphalt-paved slope, called Haguro-zaka. Halfway on the slope, I found a tori gate on the right. There were stone stairs behind the tori gate. The stairs had to lead to a shrine and I thought I should pay respects to the god enshrined, so I started walking up the stairs, which was longer than I expected. When I finished two flights of stairs, I was in a small open space, and it turned out that the stairs I had been struggling up was just a part of the long approach to the shrine, because I found across the open space a guidepost indicating the way to the shrine. So, I gave up visiting the shrine and went down the stairs back to the main route.

After leaving the tori point, soon the route entered a narrow path. Soon, this walkway began to run along a defunct railroad track on the left. This track was used in the past to transport material for the construction of the dam. I walked on the walkway along the railroad track for a short while, and then the walkway curved rightward to leave the railroad and then leftward to gradually climb up, reach the railroad track, and go over the tunnel through which the track was further extending.

(Defunct railroad track)

Then, the narrow path connected to a wider asphalt-paved road, and soon I reached the point where a well-maintained house of public facilities. Inside the house, there is also a place for walking passengers to take a rest.

(Well-maintained public restroom along the walkway)

The walkway went through mountains and I walked admiring beautiful autumn leaves here and there.

(Road in mountains)

At some points, I could see some part of that railroad track. In a small community called Sakai, I found a railroad bridge above my way. The railroad seemed to have been running almost parallel to the walkway, and I could see its remnants while walking.

(Railroad bridge)

The walkway was generally very comfortable to walk, relatively even, not hard to walk (just a short part in the beginning and about an-hour part in the last were mountain trails).

After leaving the Sakai community, I soon reached the Shirohige Shrine. In this small shrine, a big rock is enshrined as the object of worship. In summer, sanbiki shishimai dances (a type of local performing arts performed by three dancers with headgear resembling the heads of lions, other dancers, and musical instrument players such as bamboo flutists) are performed in the precincts of this shrine as offerings to the god. I have seen their performance before, and it was very interesting.

(Stone stairs leading to the Shirohige Shrine)

(The tilted huge rock on the right of the shrine house is the object of worship.)

  

In a few-minute walk distance from the shrine, I found a maple tree beautifully decorated with red and yellow leaves. The colors of this tree seemed to be brightening up things around this point.

(Iroha-kaede: Japanese maple)

The photo below shows a water vessel for horses to drink. According to the description on the board, there were three teahouses around here so that passengers can rest for a while. The teahouses were selling snacks, udon noodles, bean-paste buns, tobacco, etc. Guests could even drink cups of sake.

(Water vessel for horses to drink)

I had been walking for over three hours since I started walking when it was around 1:30. I felt very hungry and I had been looking for a nice place to have a rest and eat my lunch. And, I finally found a perfect place for my lunch. The place was overlooking the valley, and there were tables and benches surrounded by trees with yellow, orange, red-colored leaves.

(Lunch place!)

After having the lunch, I started walking again and soon the walkway left the asphalt-paved road and turned into a trail in mountains. The walkway was most arduous in a section beginning from this point. However, I like walking on a mountain trail while seeing beautiful trees and leaves. I think this part was the most interesting for me.

(Point where the asphalt road ends and the mountain trail starts)

(Trees with autumn leaves)

(I like walking on fallen leaves.)

At a point close to the end of this walkway, there is a nice lookout platform beside a teahouse named Aome-fudoson Rest Station. From the platform, I could overlook Okutama Lake. I enjoyed a nice lake view.

(Guidepost indicating Aome-fudoson Rest Station)

(Lake view from the lookout platform)

From here, I got to the Mizune bus stop in 30 minutes or something to end my walk this day. It was fun to walk along this old path while enjoying nice views of the valley, mountains, and autumn trees, and giving more than a passing thought to life of people who lived in this area in olden days.

(Movie)

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. 

Kamisuwa drinking tour

October 6, the sake breweries of Maihime, Reijin, Honkin, Yokobue, and Masumi held a sake drinking event called "Kamisuwa Kaido Aki no Nomiaruki" (autumn sake-drinking walk along the Kamisuwa Kaido street). These five breweries are located along Route 20, close to JR Kamisuwa Station.

Incidentally, we were a six-people party and the five except me were women, with a high lady rate of 83%. I don't have so many male acquaintances who love sake, and I think I drink sake with women more often with men. As to my recent association, I feel women drink sake more than men.

Well, I get back to the original topic. Each of us first paid 2000 yen for a tag ticket and a kikichoko, Hanging the ticket from the neck, we walked along the street to visit the breweries. At each brewery, we could drink prepared sake as much as we want using the given kikichoko. There were some food stands from which we could buy some snacks to pair with sake.

We started walking from the brewery closest to Kamisuwa Station, in the order of Maihime, Reijin, and Honkin. Then, we skipped Yokobue (since the brewery was on the opposite side of the street to the first three breweries) and went to Masumi. On the return path toward the station, we visited the last brewery of Yokobue.

The Miyama-nishiki version of Maihime Junmai Ginjo Suiro Namazazke (舞姫純米吟醸翠露生酒) had a very mild taste, and I liked it. My companions liked the Bizen-omachi version of this sake, but I feel my preference is leaning toward Miyama-nishiki.

At the Reijin brewery's shop, they were selling special sake, Matsutake-zake (sake with mushrooms loved by the Japanese in it) although this was not prepared for drinking in this event. The bottle of this sake contains some Matsutake mushroom. I dropped in this shop on my way home next day, and purchased a bottle of the sake. I want to drink this sake warmed, while grilling the sake-steeped mushroom on burning charcoal and eating it. The pairing of this sake and grilled mushroom would be fine.

Ikioi-Masamune Sake Party

Over three years ago, on May 19 of 2009, there was a sake event named "Nagano Sake Messe in Tokyo" at Grand Prince Hotel Akasaka, where I tasted Ikioi-Masamune (勢正宗) for the first time.

At the booth of Ikioi-Masamune, Mr. Takeya Kodama, a friend of mine, was helping the brewery staff. He let me taste various types of Ikioi-Masamune including namazake (non-pasteurized sake) and hiire sake (pasteurized sake) of the year, namazake and hiire sake after one-year aging, futsushu (regular sake), and 30-year aged sake, and giving me detailed explanation of each sake. At that time, I was impressed with its rich and bold taste.

Later, Mr. Kodama started operation of his sake shop, Jizakeya Kodama, in Minami-otsuka, Toshima-ku. He has frequently been holding sake parties inside Tokyo, and he usually calls brewers from relevant breweries to attend such parties. I have been thinking of attending such a party, but the venues were usually in Otsuka, Yotsuya, or Kanda, which were a little far from my place, and I felt reluctant to attend such a party.

On August 7, he held a sake party of Ikioi-Masamune at izakaya LP2 in Kichijoji. The party was attended by Mr. Yasuhisa Seki, president of Maruse Syuzouten Brewery and Mr. Shinji Seki from the brewery. I thought it was rare that Mr. Kodama held his event in Kichijoji, and actually this was the first time for him to do so. Kichijoji is not very far from my place (50 minutes by train), so I decided to attend this party.

The attendees of the party could enjoy various types of Ikioi-Masamune while listening to interesting talks by President Seki and his son Shinji.

Friendly and likable President Seki quite kindly answered our questions about his sake making and related issues.

To make its sake, Maruse Syuzouten uses the mochigome yodan shikomi method (four-staged fermentation method using glutinous rice), which is a traditional method, and the atsugake yodan shikomi method (four-staged fermentation method using hot steamed glutinous rice), in which they add big balls of hot steamed rice to the fermenting mash. The resultant sake, which is carefully brewed through elaborate handwork, has a gentle sweet taste of glutinous rice.

According to President Seki, they add big balls of hot steamed rice to the fermenting mash at the final stage of the fermentation process of the atsugake yodan shikomi method. As a result, the temperature of the mash is raised from approximately 8 degrees centigrade to approximately 12 degrees. Then, the enzymes and yeast cells that have already almost stopped their activity are re-activated, enhancing the taste of the sake. However, relying excessively on this method is not recommended because it may generate acetic ether and the sake will often smell like an overripe melon.

President Seki seems to be sticking to sake making using glutinous rice. He said he would like to use glutinous rice also for koji rice.

By the way, I guessed that the sakekasu (sake-lees) obtained by pressing the fermenting mash of this sake contained a lot of half-melted grains of glutinous rice, and I asked President Seki whether it tastes nice. He said, "Yes, and narazuke (pickles preserved in sake-lees) using this sakekasu is especially nice."

At the party, the following sakes are served in this order.

1. Daiginjo

2. Tokubetsu Junmai Sake

3. Futsushu Shiboritate Genshu

4. Atsugake Yodan Junmai Nama Genshu

5. Atsugake Yodan Junmai Hiire Genshu

6. One-year aged Daiginjo

7. Two-year aged Daiginjo

8. One-year aged Atsugake Yodan Junmai Nama Genshu

9. Four-year aged Atsugake Yodan Junmai Hiire Genshu

All sakes had elegant sweetness (I felt like the sweetness gently permeated cells of the body) and a bold taste. Especially, Futsushu of No. 3 was very nice. It was so nice that I could hardly believe that this was regular sake.

One-year aged Atsugake Yodan Junmai Nama Genshu of No. 8 was also nice. This bottle had personally been kept for a year by Mr. Kodama in the refrigerator at his shop, and it is sold nowhere. This sake had a rich taste and bitterness, and it was so nice that the inner side of my both cheeks wanted another mouthful after I swallowed down a mouthful. It has a taste somewhat resembling a caramel sauce. A little bitter but sweet.

After drinking different types of Ikioi-Masamune, I thought that this sake tended to become nicer after an aging period of one year or so. Maybe, sake is usually gets better when it is aged for a proper period under proper conditions. I sometimes try to keep my sake in the refrigerator, but however strongly I am determined, I soon bow down to the lure of the sake and soon the bottle becomes empty. This is my problem.

By the way, the izakaya LP2, an underground restaurant, has a bright atmosphere. They say that the interior design is based on the concept of sunlight filtering down through the trees on a comfortable sunny day. On the ceiling and walls embedded are a lot of sliced cedar logs resembling bracket fungi, diffusing the smell of fresh timber. There are several counter seats and a few tables, and especially, the tables are non-linear shaped tables, providing customers with a relaxing mood so that they can feel like they are in a natural environment.

As to their foods, each menu item was made elaborately and was nice.

Today's video: My favorite kandouko sake warmer. I love warmed sake, and I use this device to prepare warmed sake.