Ukiyo-e 29, UT-1, Handbag - Toyokuni, Making Top-quality Sake
Ukiyo-e Bag - Making Sake.
Ukiyo-e (Japanese, meaning "Pictures of the Floating World"). Ukiyo-e depicts and records the life of Japanese people in the Edo period. It represents Japanese art of 17-19 centuries.
1. What is Sake?
Sake is an alcoholic beverage (13-17% alcohol) brewed primarily from rice and water. It has a mild taste with little acidity, bitterness or astringency. Careful tasting of sake reveals a pleasant taste.
Ginjo: Ginjo sakes (Premium Sakes) are relatively new—they weren't widely produced until about 50 years ago. Sake brewers found further polished rice would result in lighter and drier sakes. Ginjo sakes have a minimum of 60% polished. As a point of reference, the white table rice with which we are familiar has usually 10% of the outer portion polished away.
Daiginjo: A minimum of 50% of the outer rice layers must be polished away to classify a sake as daiginjo. As little as a 10% polishing change, the change in aroma and flavor can be quite significant.
Junmai Ginjo (純米吟醸酒) and Junmai Daiginjo-shu (純米大吟醸酒): Sake labeled with “Junmai” means there is no distilled alcohol added.
2. The Rice
Rice is a key in sake brewing. To create good quality sakes it is necessary to use polished rice. Generally speaking, the more that the rice is polished, the better the rice becomes for brewing. Although sake can be brewed with any kind of rice, the best sake is produced from japonica (short or medium grain) rice.
3. Water
While soft water will typically yield sweeter sake, hard water is known for producing drier-style sake. The first region known for having great water was the "Five Villages of Nada" (灘五郷, Nada-Gogo) in Hyogo Prefecture (兵庫県). To this day Hyogo (兵庫県) has the most sake brewers of any prefecture. Sakes produced in Nada area are termed as Nada Sake.
4. Toji (杜氏)
Toji (杜氏) is the job title of the sake brewer, named after Du-Kang. It is a highly respected job in the Japanese society. The title of toji was historically passed on from father to son; today new toji are either veteran brewery workers or are trained at universities. Du-Kang, is one of the figures credited with the invention of alcoholic beverages in Chinese legend. He became the deified patron of winemakers in China and Japan.
Triptych
Created in 1795–1801
Artist: Utagawa Toyokuni I (歌川豊国; Japanese, 1769–1825)
Art inspires fashion - Exotic style fashion.
Ukiyo-e (Japanese, meaning "Pictures of the Floating World"). Ukiyo-e depicts and records the life of Japanese people in the Edo period. It represents Japanese art of 17-19 centuries.
Making Top-quality Sake
「大極上ふじの白酒」1. What is Sake?
Sake is an alcoholic beverage (13-17% alcohol) brewed primarily from rice and water. It has a mild taste with little acidity, bitterness or astringency. Careful tasting of sake reveals a pleasant taste.
Ginjo: Ginjo sakes (Premium Sakes) are relatively new—they weren't widely produced until about 50 years ago. Sake brewers found further polished rice would result in lighter and drier sakes. Ginjo sakes have a minimum of 60% polished. As a point of reference, the white table rice with which we are familiar has usually 10% of the outer portion polished away.
Daiginjo: A minimum of 50% of the outer rice layers must be polished away to classify a sake as daiginjo. As little as a 10% polishing change, the change in aroma and flavor can be quite significant.
Junmai Ginjo (純米吟醸酒) and Junmai Daiginjo-shu (純米大吟醸酒): Sake labeled with “Junmai” means there is no distilled alcohol added.
2. The Rice
Rice is a key in sake brewing. To create good quality sakes it is necessary to use polished rice. Generally speaking, the more that the rice is polished, the better the rice becomes for brewing. Although sake can be brewed with any kind of rice, the best sake is produced from japonica (short or medium grain) rice.
3. Water
While soft water will typically yield sweeter sake, hard water is known for producing drier-style sake. The first region known for having great water was the "Five Villages of Nada" (灘五郷, Nada-Gogo) in Hyogo Prefecture (兵庫県). To this day Hyogo (兵庫県) has the most sake brewers of any prefecture. Sakes produced in Nada area are termed as Nada Sake.
4. Toji (杜氏)
Toji (杜氏) is the job title of the sake brewer, named after Du-Kang. It is a highly respected job in the Japanese society. The title of toji was historically passed on from father to son; today new toji are either veteran brewery workers or are trained at universities. Du-Kang, is one of the figures credited with the invention of alcoholic beverages in Chinese legend. He became the deified patron of winemakers in China and Japan.
Triptych
Created in 1795–1801
Artist: Utagawa Toyokuni I (歌川豊国; Japanese, 1769–1825)
- Price:$178.00
- Glazed synthetic leather
- Custom-print durable Oxford
- Double rolled handles with 6" drop
- Top zip opening has magnetic snaps on each end
- Silver hardware
- Interior features print lining; back zip pocket; 2 front open slip pockets trimmed in matching leather
- Size: 14"W x 9 1/2"H x 6"D