Wednesday Flight #6 One Sake, One Poem
Wednesday Flight #6 One Sake, One Poem
I wanted to look to my content upon Mount Miwa till it was hidden by Mount Nara and the curves along the road but Clouds— how could you so coldly cover it? -Princess Nukata, Volume 1 of the Man’yoshu
Pairing: Mimurosugi “Dio Abita” Junmai Ginjo In the Asuka period, the god residing in Mt. Miwa was the guardian deity of the ancient capital in Yamato Province. When the capital moved to Omi-Kyo, present day Shiga in the 7th century, Princess Nukata penned this poem of longing for her old home. The god of Mt. Miwa is also the god of sake, thus the sake is named, “God Dwells”
The color of flowers has faded indeed in vain have I passed through the world while gazing at the falling rains
-Ono no Komachi, Ogura Hyakunin Isshu, No. 9
Pairing: Jinyu “100 Poems” Junmai Ginjo Aside from her prolific beauty and wit as a wordsmith, very little is known about Ono no Komachi. Some suggest Ono no Komachi is not a single person, but a poetic collective, or per- haps an archetype for a beloved lady in waiting. Today, Komachi is a name closely associated with unmatched beauty, thus, the rice used for this sake is called Akita Sake Komachi after the soft, ethereal sake it becomes.
Among the blossoms, a single jar of wine. No one else here, I ladle it out myself.
Raising my cup, I toast the bright moon, and facing my shadow makes friends three,
though moon has never understood wine, and shadow only trails along behind me.
Kindred a moment with moon and shad- ow, I’ve found a joy that must infuse spring:
I sing, and moon rocks back and forth; I dance, and shadow tumbles into pieces.
Sober, we’re together and happy. Drunk, we scatter away into our own directions:
intimates forever, we’ll wander carefree and meet again in Star River distances. -Li Po, David Hinton’s The Selected Poems of Li Po
Pairing: Rihaku “Origin of Purity” Nama Junmai Ginjo I’d be remiss to connect sake and poetry without inclusion of Li Po, the beloved “Drunken Poet” from 7th century China. Rihaku, the Japanese name of Li Po, references his proclivi- ty to drink a large bottle of sake then write 100 poems.
Eightfold rising clouds Build an eightfold fence An eightfold Izumo fence Wherein to keep my bride - Oh! splendid eightfold fence. -Susano-o, a kami from Japan’s creation mythology.
Pairing: Juji Asahi Junmai Kimoto Regarded as the first poem recited in Japanese literature, and engraved on a large stone at Suga Shrine in Izumo (Eastern Shimane). After defeating the eight headed dragon Yama- ta-no-Orochi, Susano-O wrote this poem to commemorate Izumo as the safe home for him- self and his wife, Kushinanda, whom he had rescued from the dragon. Juji Asahi, brewed by Eriko Terada, is one of the most mythologically entrenched breweries in Izumo, brewing the omiki--ritual sake-- for Izumo Taisha, the huge- ly significant Shinto shrine built here over 1000 years ago to honor Okuninushi-no-Okami, Susanoo’s brother in law and ruler of Izumo.
While the raindrops of The passing shower have not yet dried from Near the leaves of the evergreens, The mist is already rising, On this evening in autumn.
-Fujiwara no Sadanaga, Ogura Hyakunin Isshu No. 87
Pairing: Kikuhime Junmai Yamahai Hiyaoroshi While many poems in the Hyakunin Isshu anthology lean on dramatic themes of love or longing, and are bolstered by backstory, no. 87’s romance is in it’s descriptive simplicity. I lament today’s cloudless sky, and had hoped for a classic PNW fall day to enjoy this one, but alas. Kikuhime’s deep, earthy complexity seems a natural companion.
Thank you for coming tonight
Printed on the sheet as #6; sequenced here by date.
