World Sake Day, known as Nihonshu no Hi (simply “Sake Day”) in Japanese, takes place every year on October 1st and has become an international phenomenon. This year’s celebration, in altered form, was proof of that. First, a little about the history.
The sake brewing season traditionally starts in October as cooler weather arrives in Japan. Thanks to modern technology–namely, refrigeration–there are now large breweries that produce sake throughout the year. Before chilled rooms, however, brewers had to rely on nature to provide the ideal weather conditions for brewing. Of course, it’s not like every brewer across Japan stared intently at the calendar, waiting for October 1st to come before dashing into the brewery.
First, the timing of rice harvests would be different in different parts of Japan–and different from year to year because of weather and other growing variables. The same climate differences, which can be significant in a geography as dramatic as Japan’s, also dictated different starts of the brewing season for different breweries. Somebody in Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost main island, can clearly start brewing earlier than somebody in Kyushu, its southernmost. For the most part, however, many start in October. Over time, many in the brewing industry began commemorating the start of the brewing season with the arrival of October.
Nihonshu no Hi was ‘officially’ recognized by the Japan Sake and Shochu Makers Association in 1978, which simply means that the industry gave it some formal recognition and used it as a platform of sorts to draw public attention to sake. Naturally, breweries and retailers alike could use the date for promotional purposes, though the spirit remained intact. October 1st really was a reason to celebrate if that’s when the sake season more or less commenced. Alas, it was not made into a national holiday and is not one to this day–wouldn’t that be something?
As tourism to Japan increased concomitant with its economic rise and steady development of infrastructure (a trend that continues today), so too did interest in its national beverage. Exports of sake grew, which gained popularity hand in hand with the Japanese food boom around the world. In America, in particular, the establishment of large breweries like Takara, Gekkeikan and Ozeki played an enormous role in supplying sake to Japanese restaurants and grocery stores, and in raising awareness among the general public. All of these businesses naturally commemorated Nihonshu no Hi in some way, albeit calling it by its English name.
Then came the festivals–Sake Day needs real celebration! Since our magazine’s inception, we’ve been attending True Sake’s Sake Day festival in San Francisco. True Sake is America’s first sake retail store, founded by Beau Timken (featured in our second issue). He is also the organizer of San Francisco’s festivities. This year would have marked the 15th festival, had it transpired as usual. In previous years, it attracted thousands of sake fans, not to mention brewers from all over Japan and a growing number of industry folk from North America. Other festivals and celebrations have popped up around America in the last few years. Other countries where sake has gained a foothold also celebrate in their sake communities. Nihonshu no Hi has truly become a World Sake Day. Only, most of us didn’t gather this year…
…At least not in person. Sake fans were not going to let a pandemic totally spoil a celebration. It was heartening to see so many online celebrations enabled by videoconferencing technologies. Brewers and industry luminaries piped in and sake fans were provided a different kind of treat. Around the world, the insistence on having these–the necessity, we might even say–proved the popularity of sake and the importance of this day internationally. Thankfully, too, the growing availability of sake, and the ability of retailers to ship it, meant that we could enjoy plenty in the comfort of our own homes.
Nothing beats getting together with others. We’re wired for company. Gatherings of a kind we can call a festival may still be quite a ways off for many people. But if the celebrations many held remotely were this festive, imagine when we’re all back together. You have to have something to look forward to. We’ll add a raucous World Sake Day celebration to our growing list for 2021.
