The Soul of Japan: Kochutenchi こちゅうてんち

10.10.2009

Kochutenchi こちゅうてんち

高橋酒造長岡市

大吟醸（酒米：山田錦）精米40％

２００９年春は、残念ながら入賞するも、金賞を逃しました。

そのお酒を無ろ過で６０本だけ、瓶詰めしていただきました。

無ろ過のためオリが少しありますが、オリジナルなおいしさをお楽しみください。

ラベルは入賞酒になっています。画像は昨年の金賞受賞のものです。

２００８年春、全国新酒鑑評会金賞

２００８年秋、関東甲信越清酒品評会金賞

ダブル受賞の酒です。

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My Convictions & Motivations

Welcome Message

This blog is about how I see and define Japan and its five fundamental charms: sake, onsen, shinto shrines, delicious cuisines, and Jukujo. These views do not represent that of the Japanese people, just my own.

In this blog I have captured some of the everyday pleasures that I feel many Japanese take for granted nowadays. I also want readers to understand that there is a spiritual harmony and beauty in Japan which can be found in its symbols:

The Tenno, Mishima Yukio, Jukujo, Japanese cuisine, the Hot Spring, and Shrines, are for me the ideal symbols of Japan in my opinion.

On Mishima, a functional schizophrenic who was a five time Nobel Prize nominee, had a vision of a spiritual army that would protect the Emperor, which could be symbolic in protecting old traditions and values. That through his own private army he would prove his love and loyalty to the "Son of heaven" through self disembowelment . This form of expression committed at the very height of Mishima's physical beauty and maturity was considered the most dignified way to die.

"Mishima felt that at the very height of ones beauty it is better to die then, than to be remembered being in a state of decrepitude at ones death."

Beauty can come in many forms and can be expressed in many ways, but one must first define a sense of beauty first - mine is this blog. I too, like Mishima, focus on the 'old way' but through another form of expression, I also feel that many things in Japan should never change and should be protected at all cost. One thing that's just as painful as the death of the Soul of a Nation that's spinning out of control, is the impending doom of a culture fast becoming too Westernized too quickly for its own good.

On a final note: Jukujo, for me, represent the ultimate beauty that a Japanese woman could aspire to attain, and although Mishima was homosexual, he found beauty in women also.

The term"jukujo" itself could come off a bit negative to some listeners, but it depends. The term literally means ripe and well developed Japanese women in their thirties and forties , and up . Jukujo are very intuitive, intelligent and extremely nurturing.