is an offering of

sake Sake, also spelled saké ( ; also referred to as Japanese rice wine), is an alcoholic beverage of Japanese origin made by fermenting rice that has been polished to remove the bran. Despite the name ''Japanese rice wine'', sake, and indee ...

or other

alcoholic drink An alcoholic beverage (also called an alcoholic drink, adult beverage, or a drink) is a drink that contains ethanol, a type of alcohol that acts as a drug and is produced by fermentation of grains, fruits, or other sources of sugar. The c ...

s offered to

god In monotheism, monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator deity, creator, and principal object of Faith#Religious views, faith.Richard Swinburne, Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Ted Honderich, Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Ox ...

s in Japanese

Shinto Shinto () is a religion from Japan. Classified as an East Asian religion by scholars of religion, its practitioners often regard it as Japan's indigenous religion and as a nature religion. Scholars sometimes call its practitioners ''Shintois ...

Sake Sake, also spelled saké ( ; also referred to as Japanese rice wine), is an alcoholic beverage of Japanese origin made by fermenting rice that has been polished to remove the bran. Despite the name ''Japanese rice wine'', sake, and indee ...

is often consumed as part of

purification rituals. People drink Omiki with gods to communicate with them and to solicit rich harvests the following year.

Etymology

The word ''omiki'' is spelled using the three characters . The first is an honorific prefix. The second character refers to ''

kami are the deities, divinities, spirits, phenomena or "holy powers", that are venerated in the Shinto religion. They can be elements of the landscape, forces of nature, or beings and the qualities that these beings express; they can also be the sp ...

'', a kind of spirit or deity in Japanese spirituality. This is normally read as ''

'', but in certain compounds it is read as ''mi'', as we also see in the derivation of the word . The third character is read as ''

'' when used alone, but in certain compounds of ancient derivation it is read as ''ki''. The compound ''omiki'' is very old and dates back to

Old Japanese is the oldest attested stage of the Japanese language, recorded in documents from the Nara period (8th century). It became Early Middle Japanese in the succeeding Heian period, but the precise delimitation of the stages is controversial. Old Jap ...

.DaijirinDaijisenKokugo Dai Jiten There is a word in the ''

Kojiki The , also sometimes read as or , is an early Japanese chronicle of myths, legends, hymns, genealogies, oral traditions, and semi-historical accounts down to 641 concerning the origin of the Japanese archipelago, the , and the Japanese imperia ...

'' of 712, spelled using this same kanji , connected to the word in reference to the effects of sake.

Overview

Sake is an essential part of Shinsen, and is offered to the gods during rituals. The meaning of this ceremony is to receive the sake that has been offered to the gods and in which the spirit resides, and to eat and drink the same food as the gods as well as other food offerings. Some shrines also serve sake after worshipping at the two-year visit. In addition, some breweries offer new sake to the

Kamidana are miniature household altars provided to enshrine a Shinto . They are most commonly found in Japan, the home of worship. The is typically placed high on a wall and contains a wide variety of items related to Shinto-style ceremonies, the mos ...

Types and brewing methods

There are many different types of sake, such as , , , and , and many different brewing methods. The "" of and is the ancient name of sake, and is also written as "" and "". Black sake is also called . The origin of amazake dates back to the

Kofun period The is an era in the history of Japan from about 300 to 538 AD (the date of the introduction of Buddhism), following the Yayoi period. The Kofun and the subsequent Asuka periods are sometimes collectively called the Yamato period. This period is ...

, and there is a description in " Nihon Shoki " about Amazake, which is said to be the origin of amazake. According to the

Engishiki The is a Japanese book about laws and customs. The major part of the writing was completed in 927. Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005)"''Engi-shiki''"in ''Japan Encyclopedia'', p. 178. History In 905, Emperor Daigo ordered the compilation of the ...

, white sake is brewed from rice grown in Kanda and strained as it is, while black sake is made by adding burned ashes of

Clerodendrum trichotomum ''Clerodendrum trichotomum'', the harlequin glorybower, glorytree or peanut butter tree, is a species of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae. It is native to China, Korea, Taiwan, Japan, India, and the Philippines. It is a large deciduous sh ...

roots to white sake and coloring it black. Today, a combination of clear sake and cloudy sake (

Nigori ''Nigori'' or is a variety of sake, an alcoholic beverage produced from rice. Its name translates roughly to "cloudy" because of its appearance. It is about 12–17% alcohol by volume, averaging 15% with some as high as 20%. Description Sak ...

) is often used as a substitute for white and black sake. In the past, sacred sake was home-brewed by

Shinto shrine A is a structure whose main purpose is to house ("enshrine") one or more ''kami'', the deities of the Shinto religion. Overview Structurally, a Shinto shrine typically comprises several buildings. The '' honden''Also called (本殿, meani ...

s or

Ujigami An is a guardian god or spirit of a particular place in the Shinto religion of Japan. The ''ujigami'' was prayed to for a number of reasons, including protection from sickness, success in endeavors, and good harvests. History The ''ujigami' ...

s. Nowadays, however, due to restrictions in the Liquor Tax Law,

Ise Grand Shrine The , located in Ise, Mie Prefecture of Japan, is a Shinto shrine dedicated to the sun goddess Amaterasu. Officially known simply as , Ise Jingū is a shrine complex composed of many Shinto shrines centered on two main shrines, and . The Inn ...

s are required to obtain a license to brew

s and a

from the tax office.

, which has a license to brew

and a permit from the tax office to brew doburoku. In Japan, it has been customary since ancient times to make doburoku and offer it to the gods to

pray Prayer is an invocation or act that seeks to activate a rapport with an object of worship through deliberate communication. In the narrow sense, the term refers to an act of supplication or intercession directed towards a deity or a deified an ...

for a good harvest in the coming year, and even today, more than 40 shrines hold , etc.。As a rule, it is forbidden to take doburoku out of the premises of a

.。 In

Kumamoto Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyūshū. Kumamoto Prefecture has a population of 1,748,134 () and has a geographic area of . Kumamoto Prefecture borders Fukuoka Prefecture to the north, Ōita Prefecture to ...

, the

Katō Shrine is a shrine in Kumamoto Castle, Chūō-ku, Kumamoto, Kumamoto, Japan, in which ''daimyō'' or powerful territorial lord Katō Kiyomasa (1562–1611) is enshrined. Alongside Ōki Kaneyoshi and Kin Kan, who made junshi, are enshrined. History * ...

next to

Kumamoto Castle is a hilltop Japanese castle located in Chūō-ku, Kumamoto, in Kumamoto Prefecture. It was a large and well fortified castle. The is a concrete reconstruction built in 1960, but several ancillary wooden buildings remain of the original castle ...

Kumamoto City is the capital city of Kumamoto Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, Japan. , the city has an estimated population of 738,907 and a population density of 1,893 people per km2. The total area is 390.32 km2. had a population of 1,461,000, ...

uses the local tradition of Akumochizake as its sacred wine.

Omiki other than Japanese sake

At Dazaifu Tenmangū in

Fukuoka is the sixth-largest city in Japan, the second-largest port city after Yokohama, and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since ancie ...

Dazaifu City Dazaifu may refer to: * Dazaifu, Fukuoka is a city located in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan, part of the greater Fukuoka metropolitan area.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Dazaifu" in . Nearby cities include Ōnojō and Chikushino. Although mo ...

Umeshu is a Japanese liqueur made by steeping ''ume'' plums (while still unripe and green) in and sugar. It has a sweet, sour taste, and an alcohol content of 10–15%. Famous brands of ''umeshu'' include Choya, Takara Shuzo and Matsuyuki. Var ...

Plum Wine (produced by

Nikka Whisky Distilling The is a producer of Japanese whisky and other beverages headquartered in Tokyo. It is owned by Asahi Group Holdings. The company operates a number of distilleries and other facilities in Japan, including two Japanese whisky distilleries, the Yo ...

's Moji factory) is used as a sacred wine in honor of the legend of Tobi Ume. In areas where

Grape A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus ''Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters. The cultivation of grapes began perhaps 8,000 years ago, ...

cultivation is popular,

Wine Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...

is dedicated as a sacred wine at the Ichinomiya Asama Shrine in

Yamanashi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Yamanashi Prefecture has a population of 817,192 (1 January 2019) and has a geographic area of 4,465 km2 (1,724 sq mi). Yamanashi Prefecture borders Saitama Prefecture to the no ...

, Fuefuki City, and

Osaka Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Osaka Prefecture has a population of 8,778,035 () and has a geographic area of . Osaka Prefecture borders Hyōgo Prefecture to the northwest, Kyoto Prefecture ...

, and

Red wine Red wine is a type of wine made from dark-colored grape varieties. The color of the wine can range from intense violet, typical of young wines, through to brick red for mature wines and brown for older red wines. The juice from most purple grap ...

is served as a sacred wine on the third day of the New Year at the in Habikino City.

Others

There is a theory that the custom of offering white sake at Hina Matsuri was created in the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characteriz ...

(1603-1867). Since the sake is usually offered to the altar in pairs, it is used as a metaphor for the happiness of married couples, and is also used in

rakugo is a form of ''yose'', which is itself a form of Japanese verbal entertainment. The lone sits on a raised platform, a . Using only a and a as props, and without standing up from the seiza sitting position, the rakugo artist depicts a long ...

storytelling. The ornaments made of split bamboo and are inserted into the sake tokuri are called mikiguchi. In

Okinawa Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city o ...

, which is part of the former

Ryukyu Kingdom The Ryukyu Kingdom, Middle Chinese: , , Classical Chinese: (), Historical English names: ''Lew Chew'', ''Lewchew'', ''Luchu'', and ''Loochoo'', Historical French name: ''Liou-tchou'', Historical Dutch name: ''Lioe-kioe'' was a kingdom in the ...

, and the Amami region of Kagoshima Prefecture, a unique rice-based beverage called "" has been handed down and is also sold commercially as a

soft drink A soft drink (see § Terminology for other names) is a drink that usually contains water (often carbonated), a sweetener, and a natural and/or artificial flavoring. The sweetener may be a sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, fruit juice, a su ...

. It is made by adding sugar to crushed rice and fermenting it naturally.

Related Items

* Akumochizake - believed to be the original black liquor *

Amazake is a traditional sweet, low-alcohol or non-alcoholic Japanese drink made from fermented rice. ''Amazake'' dates from the Kofun period, and it is mentioned in the Nihon Shoki. It is part of the family of traditional Japanese foods made usin ...

* Doburoku Matsuri

References

{{Reflist

External links

Okazaki Hachimangu Shrine, Kusunoki-cho Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Yamaguchi Prefecture: a rare shrine for Shiroki (white sake) in Japan
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Wayback Machine The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by the Internet Archive, a nonprofit based in San Francisco, California. Created in 1996 and launched to the public in 2001, it allows the user to go "back in time" and see ...

(archived March 4, 2016) Sake Shinto Pages with unreviewed translations Rituals Shinto festivals