The Japanese Sake Bible

Оглавление

Brian Ashcraft. The Japanese Sake Bible

Отрывок из книги

Sharing Sake with the World by Richie Hawtin

A Wonderful Time to be a Sake Drinker by Brian Ashcraft

.....

This is one of the oldest styles of starters, dating from the Muromachi period (1333–1573). It is believed to have originated at the Buddhist temple Shoryakuji, located on Bodaisen mountain in Nara, home of the Bodaisen Shingon sect. Sake making was big business for Buddhist temples, which were cradles of learning and innovation in those days, akin to modern universities or research centers. Since bodaimoto was originally a summer brewing process, the practice fell out of use after the Tokugawa government restricted brewing to the winter months in the late 17th century. Although bodaimoto didn’t die out completely—Shinto shrines continued to use the technique to make their sacred unrefined sake called dakushu—it declined even further with the wide acceptance of sokujo in the 20th century. However, on March 3, 1984, Okayama’s Sanyo Shimbun newspaper reported that local brewery Tsuji Honten was reviving bodaimoto to make a nigorizake.

“Mizumoto” and “bodaimoto” refer to the same process, but because bodaimoto has the kanji characters 菩提 (bodai, meaning “enlightenment”), the term carries strong Buddhist associations. There is (as yet) no bodaimoto association comparable to the International Trappist Association, which has certain stipulations for Trappist beer, such as that the beer must be brewed by monks in a monastery (or at least under their supervision). However, there is an annual bodaimoto brewing event every January at Shoryakuji, the Buddhist temple where the technique was perfected.

.....