January event - OTOSO

< Introducing Japanese Culture >

<< From a posting of "Life at a Glance" >>

New Year's is just around the corner. Did you prepare OTOSO to drink on New Year's Day? It is often thought to be the same seishu (Japanese rice wine) as the sacred sake, but it is a medicinal sake soaked in Chinese herbal medicine called "tososan" and it expresses a wish for the health of the family.

Also, OTOSO is not something to drink with a toast, but there are rules for how to have it.

P.S. In households with non-adult, they dip OTOSO into MIRIN. MIRIN (sweet cooking sake) is sweet, not alcohol, and reduces the smell and bitterness of this crude medicine.

More information available (Wikipedia):

- Toso

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toso