The Gods Must Be Thirsty
Uploaded: November 23, 2008
Casks of saki were traditionally presented to Japanese shrines and temples to thank the gods for a bountiful harvest. They are made from cedar and covered with woven straw sheets called komo, which are decorated with lovely pictures and lettered with special fonts reserved just for saki barrels. Here at the Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto, Japan, plastic has also been used to help protect them from sun and damp.
Saki is actually the generic term for alcohol. The proper term for rice wine – which is 10% to 20% alcohol and can be drunk hot or cold – is nihonshu.
To ensure good fortune at weddings, store openings, and sports and election events – and also at the beginning of each new year – casks like these are often cracked open with wooden mallets in a special ceremony called kagami wari or kagami biraki, which means “opening the lid” or “breaking open the mirror.”
Stefania Barbier
November 23, 2008
Shelly A. Van Camp
November 28, 2008
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