wabi sabi...

do you have your own favorite sake cup and tokkuri(sake carafe)? my uncle in my hometown Akita is a great potter. these are all hand made by him. he used to be a owner of a construction firm, and the richest man in my hometown, but his company went bankrupt over 10 years ago. he lost so many things, but same time, he started pottery because he was nothing to do in those days, and had had lots of good soil around his house. nobody believed that he could do this when he started, but now, he is a real ceramic artist. i really love his taste, and am proud of him. drinking good sake with these favorite cups makes me much happier and tastes much better than with others. if you are interested in his arts, let me know!

The Train Tunnel Storehouse

Kikusui Brewery in my hometown Akita prefecture (Kikusui in Niigata is totally different. Akita kikusui is much smaller brewery than Niigata Kikusui) they have an amazing huge sotrehouse for sake in mountain which used to be a train tunnel. the brewery's owner Mr.Hirasawa bought this over 100 year-old tunnel from the biggest rail company JR (Japan Railway) because he found that the temperature of inside of the tunnel has always kept cool around 50F natural . that is perfect environment for storing sake long time. some very expensive japanese restaurant have borrowed some spaces for storing their special secret eel sauce or something too. that may be good idea;) the red face ornament, doll is called 'namahage' which is kind of good luck doll in akita. (i will tell more about namahage someday) the funny doll has a bottle of kikusui daiginjo sake. he may be a dranken bouncer of the storehouse.
this kikusui sake is not available in US yet, but you can taste one kind of their sake at next akita sake club party in november 9th. (and other around 20kinds of akita sake and local food too) i'm very excited.
thank you so much! Mr. Hirasawa san!

akita sake club party information see below.

“Akita Sake & Products Fair”

ASC was established in June 2006 to introduce AKITA Prefecture’s sake, food and goods
to the people in the NYC area. ASC and Consulate General of Japan in New York are going to hold “Akita Sake & Products Fair” on November 9, 2007.

Please join the 15 visiting brewers and come taste over 20 of Akita’s finest sakes we have chosen for you to try.

You can also savour some of Akita’s delicacies such as kiritanpo, stewed Akita fuki, iburi gakko, kinman, and many others.

Organizer:[ASC: Akita Sake Club]
Co-organizer:[Consulate General of Japan in New York]

Date: November 9, 2007 (Friday)
Time: 7:00pm to 9:30pm
Location: Official Residence of the Consul General
4 East 67th Street, New York, NY 10021

Space is limited and reservation is required. Please pay the admission fee in Advance in cash or by check (payable to Masatoshi Yamamoto). There will be no refunds due to cancellation.

Admission Fee: $50
Reservation/Contact: Masatoshi Yamamoto
Tel: 212-682-4393
Fax: 212-682-4392
e-mail: sunpop@worldnet.att.net
http://ascc.blog55.fc2.com

5S means....

this brewery, KARIHO in my hometown Akita was my first tour of sake breweries as sake sommelier in 2005. it was weekend when i visited there, so almost nobody was there. it was very quiet and clean. i always feel something like a religious atmosphere in all breweries, and my back is straightened by the air current. brewing sake needs so many equipments and tools, but they are always super clean, and put them in order perfectly every day after work. then, i found the words " thoroughgoing 5S " on the wall in this brewery. the 1st "S" means "SEIRI” 整理, to arrange or put things in order, the 2nd "S" is "SEITON" 整頓, almost same meaning of the 1st "S", like straightening things up, tidy up or something like that. the 3rd "S" is "SEISOU" 清掃, cleaning, the 4th "S" is "SEIKETSU" 清潔 keeping yourself clean, and the last 5th "S" is "SHITSUKE" 躾, discipline. Mr.Ito who is an executive drector of the brewery told me that is brewers' precept. (my husband wishes me to learn this probably....)
and all breweries have "KAMIDANA" 神棚 household Shinto altars. most of them are called "MATSUO SAMA" 松尾様 god of sake brewing which is living in KAMIDANA. brewers pray that they may be protected by MATSUO SAMA for brewing great sake every year. that must be very quiet and beautiful moment. that's why i always feel something sublime beauty from sake and breweries. i'd love you to picture that they are praying MATSUO SAMA for making great sake when you sip sake. you will feel something different more than usual drinking. your sake will tell you beautiful stories....

Thank you so much, Mr.Ito san!

serious tasting 2

DAISHICHI (big seven) brewery's way is totally different. this tasting room is almost like musium or an embassy in europe. (i've never been empassy in europe though) their sake tasting glasses are all original designed for DAISHICHI by the most famous japanese wine and sake sommelier Mr. SHINYA TASAKI. can you see the difference of the shape of all glasses? it depends on the type of sake. for 純米 junmai (regular pure rice),純米吟醸 junmai ginjo (premium), 貴醸酒 kijoshu (aged sake), plum wine...and so on. look at the big glass. which is designed for only very high quality 大吟醸 SUPER PREMIUM (of course, all sake is very high quality though) by RIEDEL. and look at the stand of the glasses like a plate also, which color is white and blue line. so you can check the sake color on the stand with the glasses. that's super cool!
i tasted these sake with Mr. Hideharu Ota who is the owner of DAISHICHI (he is the tenth) at the beautiful tasting room in june 2007. it was....AMAZING, AMAZING, AMAZING...experience for me. he is super gentle man. i visited there with other 3 of my friends in tokyo who are working for fashion business (because i used to be a fashion designer), so they didn't know about sake at all, and they were totally NOT interested in sake. BUT their minds were totally changed by them afterwords!! i'm so happy about that. i always feel happy when i made new sake lovers!

Thank you soooo much, Mr. Ota san!!

DAISHICHI
http://www.daishichi.com/english/index.html

serious tasting

i really love to taste sake in a brewery. i feel and imagine great history and human drama from the sake more than i taste them in a restaurant or home.
this brewery DEWATSURU in my sweet hometown Akita which makes amazing sake every year. i tasted 7 or 8 kinds wonderful sake at there around 2months ago when i visited there during my vacation. they opened all new bottles only for me, and of course i got all the leftover! and they gave me other special 2bottles of 純米大吟醸 SUPER PREMIUM PURE RICE SAKE for my wedding gift. they are so sweet!!

look at the sake cup in the pictures. can you see the blue line in a cup? brewers use this kind of cup which called 蛇の目猪口 JANOME JOKO when they taste sake seriously in a brewery. the white and blue line helps for checking sake color. this style might be little classic way nowadays though. i always feel sake god power when i taste sake in a brewery. if you have a chance to visit breweries, you will feel it.

thank you soooo much, AKIKO san! (who is brewer of this brewery)

DEWATSURU (AKITA SEISHU)
http://www.igeta.jp/english/index02_e.html

sake blog starts

URAKASUMI brewery's SUGIDAMA

DEWATSURU brewery's SUGIDAMA

SAIYA brewery's SUGIDAMA

thank you for waiting sake lovers!
finally i decided to start sake sommelier chizuko's sake blog. i'd love to show my pictures at breweries, sake event, and ideas about something with sake and japanese food which including culture and my family.
please stop by my blog anytime when you have a chance!

the first 3 pics are 杉玉 "SUGIDAMA". 'sugi' means cedar, 'dama' means ball. yes, it's ball made of cedar leaves. most of breweries have this 'sugidama' at enterance of the brewery, and changed every year for sign as this year's first sake has brewered. (another name is 酒林'sakabayashi'. it means sake woods. both are same things anyway)
the first color is green, but it's getting brown that means the year's sake has been getting mature.　
i posted this pics that means i finally started to do this blog. haha.
my english is still horrible, but let me try doing my best for sake! it's my mission!