Sake & Tea
Two drinks with their own disciplines. Rice, water, koji and the brewing craft UNESCO listed in 2024; and the tea ceremony, which Sen no Rikyū turned into a philosophy with rules.
Part of Japan
23 moments in this segment.
- - Sake Vessel (Heishi) with Butterflies. Sake vessel, 15th century, Japan, Metropolitan Museum of Art open-access; digitised reproduction of the original artefact.
- - Sake Cup with Gourd-Shaped Sake Bottles and Sake Cups. Sake cup, first half 19th century, Japan, Metropolitan Museum of Art open-access; digitised reproduction of the original artefact.
- - US Navy 101201-N-2858S-731 Military and civilian leaders from the U.S. and Japan open the. sake brewery barrels Japan. ATSUGI, Japan (Dec. 1, 2010) Military and civilian leaders from the U.S. and Japan open the lids of two sake barrels during a reception at the officer's club following the 60th Anniversary ceremony of the commissioning of Naval Air Facility Atsugi. The ceremony was a reen
- - Kyoto's spring (29065010083). sake brewery barrels Japan. 京の春
- - Sake barrels outside brewery in Takayama, May 2017. sake brewery barrels Japan. Sake barrels outside brewery in Takayama, May 2017
- - Born a Brewer's Daughter: Aoki Shuzo and the Young Sake Makers. JNN documentary on Chisa Aoki of Aoki Shuzo, a 190-year-old Ibaraki brewery whose Gokeiji sake won top honours at the International Wine Challenge.
- - Stone-Milled Matcha from a Uji Tea Farm. Obubu Tea, a Kyoto tea farm, tours a stone-mill matcha factory and compares three matcha cultivars, with instruction on whisking.
- - An Invitation to Chanoyu: Rikyu's Tea. Omotesenke Kitayama Kaikan film using objects from a special exhibition to explain the tea practice established by Sen no Rikyu over 400 years ago.
- - 180 Days of a Woman Toji: Sake Brewing at Imada Shuzo. Hiroshima TV documentary following Miho Imada, head of a sake brewery founded in 1868, through a full brewing season including her first use of wooden vats.
- - Sukayu Onsen: A Toji Bathing Resort Through the Years. ATV Aomori archive film on Sukayu Onsen, a long-established toji cure resort, and how it came to open through the deep-snow winters that once closed it.
- - From Rice to Bottle at Senkin Brewery. Full record of the sake-making process at Senkin in Sakura, Tochigi, following the kurabito through washing, steaming, koji and fermentation.
- - Yamazaki: Where Japanese Whisky Began. Whiskypedia episode on Suntory's Yamazaki distillery, begun in 1923 and Japan's oldest malt distillery, guided by Suntory whisky ambassador Taichi Sasaki in its centenary year.
- - The World Wants Wooden-Vat Soy Sauce. JETRO documentary on kioke-brewed shoyu, following a 150-year-old Shodoshima brewery reviving wooden-vat fermentation and finding overseas buyers.
- - Toji: Bathing and Sleeping, and Nothing Else. Miyagi TV report on the revival of toji, the extended hot-spring cure stay, as travellers seek digital detox and better sleep rather than sightseeing.
- - Traditional Sake Brewing Joins UNESCO: Japan's 23 Intangible Heritage Entries. Nippon TV explainer marking the December 2024 UNESCO inscription of Japanese traditional sake and shochu brewing, and how intangible heritage differs from World Heritage.
- - One Kilogram a Day: Stone-Milled Matcha. Factory visit to Shogyokuen, where vintage granite mills grind tencha into matcha at roughly one kilogram per mill per day, showing the whole production line.
- - Traditional Japanese Sake Brewing. National Tax Agency film on the UNESCO-listed traditional brewing of sake, shochu, awamori and mirin, covering steaming, koji making and the parallel multiple fermentation unique to Japan.
- - New Matcha Shops Open as National Supply Runs Short. Nihonkai TV report from San'in on a new matcha specialist opening even as tea runs short and prices climb nationally.
- - The Global Matcha Boom Reaches Sencha. KBC report from the Yame tea district of Fukuoka on how overseas matcha demand has driven prices up and begun squeezing ordinary green tea supply.
- - Sen Soshitsu XVI on the Place of Tea Today. Interview at Konnichian in Kyoto with the sixteenth Urasenke grand master, descendant of Sen no Rikyu, on calligraphy, flowers, incense, food and architecture converging in chanoyu, and on wa-kei-sei-jaku.
- - Matcha Bubble: Gion Tsujiri Drops 'Uji Tea' From Its Logo. Kansai TV investigation into the matcha shortage, in which the historic Kyoto tea house removed Uji-cha from its logo as producers field orders for 100kg lots and prices double.
- - Tea Farmers in Crisis as Matcha Demand Distorts the Market. Fuji TV report on growers converting sencha fields to tencha for matcha, with farmers calling the boom overheated and the established tea distribution upended.
- - A Century of Japanese Whisky and the Master Blender. FNN report from Yamazaki distillery on the craft behind Japanese whisky's reputation, with chief blender Futoshi Koshiishi, after Yamazaki 18 swept the 2025 International Spirits Challenge.
