{"id":2380,"date":"2014-01-28T10:05:16","date_gmt":"2014-01-28T01:05:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2014-01-28\/2380"},"modified":"2014-01-28T10:05:16","modified_gmt":"2014-01-28T01:05:16","slug":"sipping-sake-and-seeing-silly-signs-visiting-kyotos-sake-brewing-area","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2014-01-28\/2380","title":{"rendered":"Sipping Sake and Seeing Silly Signs: Visiting Kyoto’s Sake-Brewing Area"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Voigtl\u00e4nder 125mm f\/2.5 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>640 sec, f<\/span>\/2.5, ISO 180 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\n“<\/span>All You Can Drink”<\/span> Sake Flows Like Water<\/span>\nin my dreams\n(however, water does flow like water<\/i> at the Gekkeikan Sake Museum in Kyoto Japan)<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

I recently made my first trip to the area of southern Kyoto historically\nknown for its sake production, which likely dates back thousands years.\nWritten on the cup above is “<\/span>\u6708\u6842\u51a0<\/span>”<\/span> (Gekkeikan<\/i><\/a>), the\nname of a sake<\/span>-brewing company founded in 1639.<\/p>\n\n

Gekkeikan sake is ubiquitous in Japan. Here you see its name on barrels outside a temple<\/span> in the area...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f\/1.4 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>640 sec, f<\/span>\/4.5, ISO 900 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nEntrance to the Chokenji Temple (\u9577\u5efa\u5bfa)<\/span><\/span>\n“<\/span>Long Health Temple”<\/span> supported by sake\n<\/div>\n\n

It's my understanding that the (certainly-empty) barrels of sake represent a monetary<\/span> donation from the brewery, to match what\nin olden times was an actual gift of sake. In either<\/span> case, the brewery gets advertisement and good karma.<\/p>\n\n

This particular temple is quite small, with a chunk<\/span> of its area given to a courtyard<\/span> with a couple<\/span> of fenced-in features..<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f\/1.4 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>1000 sec, f<\/span>\/1.8, ISO 100 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nTemple's Courtyard<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

The courtyard's main attraction is this fire pit with two big, ugly signs:<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f\/1.4 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>640 sec, f<\/span>\/3.5, ISO 800 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nInexplicable<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

What struck me about this scene was the huge sign in the foreground,\nwhich reads \"This is not a place<\/span> to throw garbage. It's a fire<\/span> pit\nfor ceremonial burning of ceder sticks.<\/i><\/b>\", referring to a Buddhist<\/span>\nceremony likely comparable to the Shinto ceremonies shown here<\/a> and here<\/a>. My first<\/span> thought was\nthat such a sign<\/span> was silly because even a child<\/span> could instinctively know\nthat the fenced-off area surrounded by precisely-carved stone was not a\nplace<\/span> to throw your trash. Yet, here was the big sign, so I was<\/span> left\nwondering what transpired to cause the owner to feel the need for such a\nsign.<\/span> I suppose<\/span> it's a sad<\/span> reflection on the state of humanity, even worse\nthan the\nno-tripods-in-your-possession temple<\/a>. Sigh.<\/p>\n\n

Anyway, we continued the short distance to an old Gekkeikan factory building now used as a museum.<\/span>..<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f\/1.4 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>1000 sec, f<\/span>\/1.4, ISO 100 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nGekkeikan Okura Memorial Museum<\/span>\n\u6708\u6842\u51a0\u5927\u5009\u8a18\u5ff5\u9928\n<\/div>\n\n

They had water running into a basin, with a sign<\/span> saying that it was from a deep<\/span> well\nthat provides water for the sake production. I should<\/span> have tried the water. Instead, I took pictures<\/span> of it.<\/p>\n\n

Kyoto friend Alain, who had invited me, spent considerable time composing a photo<\/span> of the basin from above...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f\/1.4 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>640 sec, f<\/span>\/3.5, ISO 320 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nAlain and his Basin<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

Showing no shame, I totally copycatted him and made my own attempt at\nhis shot. I've since seen his result and it's far superior to mine (because, er, he has a better<\/span> camera? \ud83d\ude09<\/span>), but\nFWIW here's mine:<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f\/1.4 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>60 sec, f<\/span>\/6.3, ISO 100 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\n
Desktop-Background Versions<\/b>\n1280×<\/span>800<\/a>  ·  1680×<\/span>1050<\/a>  ·  1920×<\/span>1200<\/a>  ·  2560×<\/span>1600<\/a>  ·  2880×<\/span>1800<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

Next to the museum were three huge barrels, the largest of which measuring about six feet across:<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f\/1.4 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>640 sec, f<\/span>\/3.5, ISO 180 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nBig Barrels<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f\/1.4 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>640 sec, f<\/span>\/3.5, ISO 400 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nSilly Sign #2<\/span>\n“<\/span>Don't hang on or climb on”<\/span>\n(but, oddly, no mention about going inside)<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f\/1.4 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>640 sec, f<\/span>\/3.5, ISO 450 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nHand for Scale<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

Long bamboo strips were woven around the barrel in what appeared to be\nrings to keep the wooden slats together. I wonder<\/span> whether it's cosmetic, or\nwhether it could actually hold the slats tightly enough to form a\nwatertight<\/span> seal(?) It seems improbable, but perhaps they're installed while in some kind of expanded state (e.g. after boiling?) and so constrict as they dry?<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Voigtl\u00e4nder 125mm f\/2.5 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>640 sec, f<\/span>\/8, ISO 2000 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nTies that Bind<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

This is, of course, the answer to the other day's A Woven<\/span>(ish) \u201cWhat am I?\u201d\nQuiz<\/a>. I'd given<\/span> the hint that the location name in the image metadata\nmight lead one to an answer, but for the record even with that hint I myself<\/span> would never have\nfigured it out because I'd never seen the “<\/span>bamboo binding”<\/span>\nthing before.<\/p>\n\n

Inside the small museum (which I'll cover in a separate<\/span> post) you can\nsee a lot<\/span> of history about how sake was made in former days. It was nice<\/span> to\nsee this long-history view of Gekkeikan because in my experience it's\nalways been the ubiquitous cheap sake in convenience stores and\nrestaurants, which has given me the feeling that it's what someone stocks\nwhen they don't want to think about quality and just need to mark “<\/span>sake”<\/span>\noff the checklist.<\/p>\n\n

Once you emerge from the display rooms, you're greeted with what was certainly my favorite sign for the day:<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Voigtl\u00e4nder 125mm f\/2.5 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>160 sec, f<\/span>\/4, ISO 6400 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nWell Okay, I Don't<\/span> Mind if I Do!<\/span><\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

I love that Japanese has a word (kikizake<\/i>) for “<\/span>sake for tasting”<\/span>.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Voigtl\u00e4nder 125mm f\/2.5 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>640 sec, f<\/span>\/2.5, ISO 6400 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nPour<\/span>\n( staged for documentation purposes because I was<\/span> too slow for the real pour )<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

This calls to mind\n“<\/span>A Bunch<\/span> Of Blurry Pictures of Folks Pouring Wine<\/a>”<\/span> and to a lesser<\/span> extent\n“<\/span>A Visit<\/span> to Suntory\u2019s Kyoto Beer Brewery<\/a>”<\/span>.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Voigtl\u00e4nder 125mm f\/2.5 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>400 sec, f<\/span>\/2.5, ISO 6400 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\n“<\/span>Retro Bottle”<\/span><\/span>\n100-year-old bottle design that includes its own detachable drinking cup\n<\/div>\n\n

Sadly, the subject nor the setting weren't nearly as photogenic as at “<\/span>Japan\u2019s First Whisky: Suntory\u2019s \u201cYamazaki\u201d Distillery<\/a>”<\/span>.<\/p>\n\n

Just like there's a huge diversity of beer taste (e.g. Guinness Stout\ncompared to Budweiser) and wine (thick sweet red dessert wine compared to a\ndry<\/span> white wine), sake tastes cover a very<\/span> wide gamut, and expanding the\nrange farther is that the taste of many sake changes completely depending\non the temperature it's served. So, “<\/span>research”<\/span> along these lines could take\nconsiderable time, and normally I would<\/span> not hesitate to do this for\nmy blog readers, but alas, we had to move on.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f\/1.4 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>640 sec, f<\/span>\/4, ISO 500 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nOld Factory Building<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f\/1.4 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>2000 sec, f<\/span>\/1.6, ISO 100 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\n“<\/span>School-Commute Road”<\/span><\/span>\n(a natural<\/span> translation to US English would be “<\/span>School Zone”<\/span>)<\/span>\nWow, it's so convenient that kids can drop in for a quick<\/span> drink on the way to school! \ud83d\ude42\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The next place we visited had some bicycles parked out front...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f\/1.4 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>640 sec, f<\/span>\/2.2, ISO 180 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

... and upon entering it became clear why.... for some reason you're not allowed to ride your bicycle in!<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f\/1.4 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>640 sec, f<\/span>\/2.2, ISO 3600 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nNo Bicycles Allowed<\/span>\nin the Kappa Gallery\n(also no dogs and no smoking, the latter of which I saw<\/span> being completely ignored)\n<\/div>\n\n

Yet another silly sign that makes me wonder what bedlam would befall the place without it.<\/p>\n\n

Actually, to be precise, the sign specifically says that one may not\nride<\/i> a bicycle<\/span> in, which seems (to me) a bit<\/span> unnatural unless they\nexplicitly wanted to differentiate riding from not riding. It seems<\/span> to imply that it's okay so long as you push it. I couldn't<\/span> test the theory,\nthough, because I didn't<\/span> have a bicycle<\/span> on me at the time.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f\/1.4 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>640 sec, f<\/span>\/2.2, ISO 560 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nActual Brewing<\/span>\nthe heady smell was heavenly<\/i>\n<\/div>\n\n

This place had some actual brewing going on, and it smelled wonderful<\/i>. Otherwise, there wasn't much to recommend a visit.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

Two more signs from the walk home...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Nikkor 24mm f\/1.4 — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>640 sec, f<\/span>\/2.2, ISO 2200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\n“<\/span>For Advertising Leaflets”<\/span><\/span>\nsign on a bag hanging on the door of an old house\n<\/div>\n\n

Certain local businesses in Japan advertise incessantly via leaflets\nshoved in mailboxes (we get several per day), and I can<\/span> imagine that this\nhomeowner got sick of people ignoring a “<\/span>no leaflets”<\/span> sign and littering\ntheir doorstep, so perhaps this is a compromise<\/span> that reduces flying\ntrash.<\/p>\n\n

And finally in a covered mall, notice the biggest sign hanging above the teeming crowd...<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D4 + Voigtl\u00e4nder 125mm f\/2.5 cropped — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>640 sec, f<\/span>\/2.5, ISO 2500 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nWaste of Time<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

If you need to be “<\/span>reminded”<\/span>, reminding won't help. The “<\/span>heart”<\/span> with the happy smoker reminds us to follow smoking\nregulations. The non-heart items remind us to not litter, to not walk through the crowd with a lit<\/span> cigarette, to not ride a bicycle<\/span>\nthrough the crowd, and to not leave your bicycle parked in the way.<\/p>\n\n

And indeed it seems that reminding does not help because none of these seem to be followed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I recently made my first trip to the area of southern Kyoto historically known for its sake production, which likely dates back thousands years. Written on the cup above is \"\u6708\u6842\u51a0\" (Gekkeikan), the name of a sake-brewing company founded in 1639.<\/p>

Gekkeikan sake is ubiquitous in Japan. Here you see its name on barrels outside a temple in the area...<\/p>

It's my understanding that the (certainly-empty) barrels of sake represent a monetary donation from the brewery, to match what in olden times was an actual gift of sake. In either case, the brewery gets advertisement and good karma.<\/p>

This particular [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2380"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2380"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2380\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}