(…) there lived one Yurine, a man of poor means even for those days. He loved saké wine, and scarcely ever spent a day without drinking some of it. Yurine lived near the place which is now called Sudzukawa, a little to the north of the river known as Fujikawa.
On the day which followed Fuji San’s appearance, Yurine became ill and was in consequence unable to drink his cup of saké. He became worse and worse, and, at last feeling that there could be no hope for him, decided to give himself the pleasure of drinking a cup before he died. Accordingly, he called to himself his only son, Koyuri, a boy of fourteen years, and told him to go and fetch him a cup or two of the wine. Koyuri was sorely perplexed. He had no saké in the house, and there was not a single coin left wherewith to buy. This he did not like to tell his father, fearing that the unpleasant state of affairs might make him worse. So he took his gourd and went wandering along the beach, wondering how he could get what his father wanted. While thus employed Koyuri heard a voice calling him by name. As he looked up towards the pines which fringed the beach, he saw a man and a woman sitting beneath an immense tree; their hair was a scarlet red, and so were their bodies. At first, Koyuri was afraid,—he had never seen their like before,—but the voice was kindly, and the man was making signs to him to approach. Koyuri did so in fear and trembling, but with that coolness which characterises the Japanese boy.
As Koyuri approached the strange people he noticed that they were drinking saké from large flat cups known as ‘sakadzuki,’ and that on the sand beside them was an immense jar, from which they took the liquor; moreover, he noticed that the saké was whiter than any he had seen before.
How does the story end?
…to be continued.
The white sake depicted here is possibly nigori, a cloudy or milky sake, which is becoming increasingly popular due to its lightly sweet taste and rich, creamy texture. Nigori sake is unfiltered or roughly filtered so that some of the rice sediment is left in the sake, giving it a cloudy or milky appearance.
Kampai!
MFD.
P.S. As you ponder over the story of the white sake, grab a bottle of Shirakawago sasanigori sake from MFD to experience the cloudy, layered, semi-sweet, silky taste of a nigori sake. Imagine the beautiful moment as Koyuri laid eyes on a nigorizake for the very first time.
