Sake is a Japanese alcoholic drink made of fermented rice, koji (often translated as rice malt or yeast made from rice) and water. In Japanese, the word ‘sake’ also means alcoholic beverages in general.[1] Sake is sometimes referred to in English-speaking countries as "rice wine". However, unlike wine, in which alcohol (ethanol) is produced by fermenting sugar that is naturally present in grapes, sake is produced by a brewing process more like that of beer.
Sake is often consumed as part of Shinto purification rituals (compare with the use of grape wine in the Christian Eucharist). Sakes served to gods as offerings prior to drinking are called Omiki or Miki (お神酒, 神酒). People drink Omiki with gods to communicate with them and to solicit rich harvests the following year. During World War II, kamikaze pilots drank sake prior to carrying out their missions.
In a ceremony called kagami biraki, wooden casks of sake are opened with mallets during Shinto festivals, weddings, store openings, sports and election victories, and other celebrations. This sake, called iwai-zake ("celebration sake"), is served freely to all to spread good fortune.
At the New Year many Japanese people drink a special sake called toso. Toso is a sort of iwai-zake made by soaking tososan, a Chinese powdered medicine, overnight in sake. Even children sip a portion. In some regions, the first sips of toso are taken in order of age, from the youngest to the eldest.
Sake makers or brewers are known as tōji, while workers in sake breweries are called kurabito.
Role in the Ju-on series[]
A disturbed Kyoko instructs Tatsuya.
While visiting the Saeki house and feeling disturbed by it, Kyoko, asked her real estate agent brother Tatsuya to drink from a bottle of Sake. After drinking it, Kyoko spat it out and ordered Tatsuya to always offer the Sake to any client interested in the house. Kyoko explained that refined Sake reacted naturally to the presence of spirits, and in case a person felt the Sake tasted strange, the house could be too dangerous for that person. However, Tatsuya himself drank it but felt nothing strange.
Later on, a group of four schoolgirls Izumi Toyama, Saori, Chiaki and Ayano visited the Saeki house. The girls discovered the Sake and drank it, finding the taste unusually repulsive. This foreshadowed that the girls would be claimed by the curse.