かいこま
Tonight's sake is "Yamatohka," a sake I'm drinking for the first time.
I had been curious about this brand, which is named after Yamaguchi Prefecture's haiku poet "Taneda Yamatoka," until the other day when I saw an ad in 47 Club that it is shipped with a different label (a label with a poem written by Yamatoka on that day) for 365 days, so I placed an order specifying the label for my birthday. I had actually intended to drink it on my birthday in November, but I couldn't wait and opened it tonight. I opened the bottle tonight and enjoyed it with a Hagiyaki sake cup I have at home.
The taste is different from the popular sake of the day, but rather old-fashioned and nostalgic in a sense. It is a fire-aged sake with a rice polishing ratio of 40% and an alcohol content of 17%, so it has a refreshing taste, but with a firm sweetness and umami. The slight sweetness is right in the strike zone for me.
The phrase "The sound of raindrops has grown old" is thought to have been composed by Yamatoka, who was listening to the sound of raindrops dripping from the eaves of the roof of an inn where he was on his way to beg for food, when the rain eventually slowed down and he superimposed his own aging on it (I have done some research, but the details are unknown).
Rain is forecast for Yamanashi tomorrow. Tomorrow night, I would like to savor this sake while listening to the sound of raindrops and feeling my own aging.
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