Today I helped Ushimura-san make a big ball of cedar branches at Oyama Senmaida.
This weekend they are having an event for members of the Sake Owner’s Program – officially opening the sake made with the rice they grew in 2023. It’s the first time since the pandemic that everyone’s gathered for the special tasting party.
The sugidama is party decor in this case, but it has a long history in Japan’s sake breweries as a timekeeping device and advertisement. Fashioned from freshly cut branches at the beginning of the brewing season in February or March, the ball gradually dries out, turning olive green in time for summer sake and crispy brown for winter sake.
We used cedar branches that had been collected from “Takao’s mountain,” which at first I thought meant they came all the way from Takaosan, a popular hiking spot west of Tokyo, but actually, Takao’s mountain is my Kawasaki-san’s land on the other side of Oyama Senmaida. Not far at all!
We cut the branches into small pieces then shoved them into a purpose-made spherical wire cage. Once we had greens coming out in all directions forming a shaggy sphere, Ushimura-san handed me a pair of loppers and I tried to make it round.
Fortunately, she has a lot of experience making sugidama and soon took over the loppers because my efforts were comical at best. She cut deep and made a good round shape. I followed along with scissors, trimming up the details. We added more cedar where the ball needed it and ended up with a lovely, fragrant green ball.
