民宿の炉端で民話聞く初春酒は地酒よ摘みは山菜

listening to tales around the crackling hearth of the local inn
this new year’s sake is the sake of this place
the snacks, wild shoots gathered from the hills

さだお Sadao

 

人生の善につけ宴せる日本酒を酌み先ずは乾杯

Celebrating the good things in life
with a round of sake –
before all else, “cheers!”

 奥山功 Okuyama Isao

ハレの日を祝ふ心のかげりゆくことをとどめよまづは一献

Celebrating a clear day
First, a drink
To stop the heart from darkening

野上卓  Nogami Taku

強面の祖父は俄にほころびぬ「母情」と記さる瓶ひざの上に

my fierce grandfather
suddenly brightens –
Branded with "mother's love"
a sake bottle
on his knees

中村佐世子 Nakamura Sayoko 

 

ほんのりと頬を染めたる新成人 升酒片手に歓喜の和音

Young adults blushing faintly 
fresh wooden sake cups held each in one hand
a chorus of delight

大塚美穂 Otsuka Miho
 

花の下酒ありてこそほのぼのと知らぬ人とも打ちとけあへれ

Under the flowers
It's only because of sake
That I warm up a bit
To strangers nearby

恵月 Keigetsu
 

浮かれつつさしつさされの花見酒 郡上の城に天恵の宴

Making merry
Exchanging cups of
Flower-viewing sake
At the castle of Gujo
A banquet of nature’s gifts

近藤好廣   Kondo Yoshihiro 

 

満開の桜の下で花見酒 一家(いっか)そろって還暦(かんれき)祝ふ      

In full blossom
The sakura; beneath them
Flower-viewing sake
One household all gathered for
A sixtieth birthday celebration

原 比呂子 Hara Hiroko 

 

春の桃秋のなでしこうす紅は呑みたき色よ甘い香りす           

Peaches of spring
Dianthus flowers of fall
The pale pink is
A color that I want to drink
How sweet the scent it gives

添島貴美代    Soejima Kimiyo 

 

労を田に汗も源米作り一から百酒魂酔うや

Toiling in the paddies
sweat too is
the source of sake rice
Brewing from start to finish
my spirit grows tipsy

後藤憲之 Goto Noriyuki
 

 

あてもなき一人旅ならローカルを走る車窓に一献捧ぐ

For a solo trip to no place in particular
I take the local train
and raise a glass to the window

阿矢部 僕酔　Ayabe Bokusui
 

 

むずかしきことを思わず酌む酒は香り愛しき地元の酒よ

Thinking not of
Difficult things
we pour this sake–
And with it
savor the scent of my beloved home

佐藤佐一郎 Sato Saiichiro

 

亡き父の酔えば歌いし大魚節盆の踊りか遠く聞こゆ


The Obon song that my late father would sing when drinking
I hear it faintly now[2]

旭 千代 Asahi Chiyo

 

この酒は辛口なれどやさしくてこんな上司にわれはなりたし

This sake is bold but gentle
I’d like to become
A boss like that

村上秀夫 Murakami Hideo
 

ビールでも清酒でもよし胸襟を開きて語ることがなによ

Beer or the purest sake, both good
for what matters most
loosening the collar and talking heart to heart

野上卓 Nogami Taku

 
 

お礼など言えない夫がほろ酔いの口に言えたり言葉すらすら

a husband who cannot utter even a simple thanks
with a little drink
becomes suddenly eloquent

Hayakawa Michiko  

露の付くコップ薄目のハイボール夜更の胸を一人洗濯

in this dewy cup
A long highball
A solitary laundering
of my late-night heart

後藤進 Goto Susumu

 

秋の夜舌にころがす歌がある 一から百酒のすがしき

Autumn night
Rolling on my tongue
A song for sake
From beginning to end[3]
A refreshing dryness

 田中徹尾 Tanaka Tetsuo

季節土地移り変われど変わらぬはああ酒愛し今宵に感謝

Seasons and soil
Though they may move and change
What does not change is–
Ahh, beloved sake
Gratitude for this evening

杉本敬治   Sugimoto Keiji
 

外で飲むこともなくなり一人飲む深夜の酒は望郷ばかり       

Going out to drink
Is something I no longer do
I drink alone
This deepening night’s sake
Is nothing but homesickness

後藤 進  Goto Susumu 

 

消しゴムで消せない過去のありまして茶碗の酒が知つております

An eraser
Cannot erase a past
Such as mine
my bowl of sake
knows so well

西部 稔　Nishibe Minoru

目が合うは野良猫ばかりそんな日 日本酒の良き香りが喜れし    

Only stray cats meet my eyes
On such a day
The nice scent of sake
Makes me happy

木村 浩 Kimura Hiroshi

固い物食べにくくなり米すらも磨いて作る日本酒が良し

Hard foods
Become hard to eat
Even rice
But polished into sake
It is good

木村 浩 Kimura Hiroshi 

 


若き日の君をしのびつつ酔へばなほ恋こふる歌を口ずさぶわれ

Remembering
The days of your youth
I am intoxicated
From my mouth a song
Wishing for you

長畑孝典　Nagahata Takanori

きょうとて明日とて君がいなければ酒すら飲めず。どーにかなるよ

Whether today or tomorrow
If you aren’t here
I can’t even drink
It'll work out somehow

小野木 Onogi

瀬も淵もありて一世の旅路めく長良の川のみなかみの里

Shallow currents and
Deep pools both, like a lifetime’s
Journey
The Nagara River
Village at its water’s source

村上 厚　Murakami Atsushi
 

よい酒はよい米よい水よい蔵でかもしかもされほろ酔いに

Good sake
Is good rice, good water,
And a good brewery
For getting a little stewed in the stewing

読み人知らず Unknown Poet

 

寒い冬蒸した米達麹かけ杜氏の手指で見事花咲く  

Cold winter
Steamed grains of rice
Sprinkling koji[4]
From the chief brewer’s fingers
Magnificent blossoms bloom

馬渕貞三  Mabuchi Sadazou
 

櫂入れてボッコンボッコンかき回す爆発のごと醪は踊る[5]

Insert the paddle
Stir about
Bokkon bokkon
Goes the sake mash
Dancing
As if exploding

歌う蔵人 Brewer Poet

 

もういいかまだかとのぞきこむ杜氏プツプツ答える樽の中から

is it ready? not quite yet?
the brewer peers inside
the cask grumbles in reply

西口明子 Nishiguchi Akiko 

 

仕込みどき蔵通りゆけばほろ酔いをさそふ香りぞする早暁なりき

During sake making season
Wandering past the sake brewery
The scent alone invites tipsiness
This early dawn

花田敦子 Hanada Atsuko

真夜中も新酒の仕込み続くらし倉の灯りが冬田を照らす       

Even in the dead of night
Making  of the new sake continues
Continues on
The brewery’s  lights
Illuminate the winter fields

奥村利夫 Okumura Toshio

くらひらきみなの心もときはなつ体にやどる踊るよろこび

The brewery opens[6]
And the hearts of all
Let loose as well.
Dwelling in the body,
A dancing joy

踊るヴィーガニスタ The Dancing Veganista
 

東方母情に対し西方のボジレーヌーボ軍配どっち

From the East
Bojo sake
From the West
Beaujolais Nouveau
Can one even begin
To compare the two?

吉村卓子 Yoshimura Takuko

「この酒」を「あの酒だ！」という歴史的一瞬がある。その一瞬が好き

This sake is that sake!
This historic moment
I love that moment

西部 稔　Nishibe Minoru 

 

孫十五酒飲めるまであと五年二十は祝うどスナック、屋台

My grandson, fifteen
until he reaches drinking age
another five years
we'll celebrate his twentieth
with bars and food stalls

さだお Sadao 

 

 飲むほどにご機嫌になる夫『つま』がいて熱燗『あつかん』おかわり「はいよろこんで」

his mood improving with each drink
he calls for another hot sake
“happily!” she replies

木内美由紀 Kiuchi Miyuki

「父ちゃんの命日だね」と空見上げ猪口『ちょこ』で献杯九十『きゅうじゅう』の母

"Today is dad's
death anniversary, isn't it?"
My ninety year old
Mother says
Raising her glass to the sky

木内美由紀 Kiuchi Miyuki  

 

 

愉しみは余生過ごすに欠かせざる酒のお供に歌学ぶこと

Delight –
together with sake,
so irreplaceable
for my remaining days,
learning verses and their ways.

北条 暦　Hojo Koyomi 

 

いにしえに思いを馳せて飲む酒は輪廻の水と誰か言ふらむ

The sake you drink
When thinking of the past
Is the water of reincarnation
Or so it has been said

凡句楽直 Bonkuranaosu 

 

治療終へ退院来たりて一杯の酒のうまさよ命嘉する

Returning from the hospital
How tasty
This cup of sake–
Oh the life I’ve lived!

星原風堂 Hoshihara Fudo

楽しみは旬の食材調理して肴に夕べ酒を酌む時

Happiness is:
after preparing
seasonal ingredients for
evening appetizers,
the time when we share sake

星原風堂 Hoshihara Fudo

澄みわたるこの美酒を育みしは彼方の峰の白雪なるらん

This cloudless
Excellent sake–
Who made it so?
Was it the faraway peaks'
White snow?

柾木 理花 Masaki Rika 

[1] Mother’s love (bojo in Japanese) is the main brand of Hirano Jozo Brewing Company. It is said to be named after the fierce and loving mother of the original founder of the brewery.

[2] Obon is the summer festival during which the spirits of ancestors are said to return to this earth. Though there is Obon dancing throughout Japan, Gujo’s Obon dance culture is unique in that villagers and tourists dance for more than thirty nights compared to the usual one day a year.

[3] This poem is referencing the name of the sake, Ichi Kara Hyakushu 一から百酒 meaning the beginning to end sake. But Ichi Kara Hyakushu can also mean the poems from one to one hundred, or the poems that start from beginning to end, as one reading of one character for poem is shu. As such, this poet is making a play on words for this sake and poetry.

[4] Koji is Aspergillus oryzae mold which is used in Japan to make alcoholic beverages like sake, as well as to ferment soybeans to make miso and soy sauce.

[5] This poem describes the sounds of the sake after the mash (composed of the already fermented koji and rice starter, yeast, water and steamed rice) have begun to ferment together.

[6] As mentioned in the editor’s notes, this poem is referencing the brewery open day which though has historical precedence was only recently restarted at Hirano Jozo.