Sake Vocabulary

Do you speak 日本酒? While we try to keep the information on this page in plain English, not all terms can be translated. This handy guide to sake terminology helps you make sense of some of the Japanese expressions and sake jargon and will be updated continually.

Ama-kuchi
[甘口] Sweet taste. The opposite is karakuchi [辛口], dry.

Amazake
[甘酒] Very sweet and thick non-alcoholic drink usually made from rice that has been treated with koji (see there). Another preparation method involves dissolving sake lees (—see kasu) and sugar in hot water, resulting in slightly alcoholic beverage.

Atsukan
[熱燗] Hot sake, served at 50ºC. —See kanzake

B.Y.
Brewery Year. Often written using the Japanese era system. A brewery year runs from July 1 to June 30 of the following calendar year.

Daiginjo
[大吟醸] Sake made from rice grains that were polished to at least 50% of their original volume. Requires great care and skill at all steps of the production. Expressive fruity aromas.

Doburoku
[どぶろく] A simple, completely unfiltered “home-brew” sake. Home brewing is illegal in Japan and a special license is needed, even for existing sake breweries. Legally, this is not considered sake because it was not filtered. Taste varies greatly, from super-sweet to funky and acidic.

Ginjo
[吟醸] Sake made from rice grains that were polished to at least 60% of their original volume. Usually light with fruity aromas. —See also daiginjo.

Ginjo-ka
[吟醸香] The characteristic fruity aroma of ginjo and daiginjo sake. Notes of melon, pear, apple, sometimes also aniseed, strawberry.

Guinomi
[ぐい呑 or ぐい飲] a large sake cup, often made from clay. Bigger and more rough than an ochoko (see there). Like chawan tea bowls, pieces from master potters are highly regarded and can be very expensive, despite looking rough and simple to the untrained eye.

Jizake (also ji-zake)
[地酒] Locally brewed sake. Ideally a ‘craft sake’ produced in small batches and expressing a regional style, but sometimes just a marketing term. Look for this on signs when travelling though the Japanese countryside.

Kanzake (also kan-zake)
[燗酒] Warm sake. Different temperature stages have their own names: Most common are atsu-kan (‘hot’, 50ºC) and nuru-kan (‘warm’, 40ºC).

Kara-kuchi
[辛口] Dry taste. Karai also means “spicy, hot”. See also Ama-kuchi [甘口]

Kasu
[粕] or [糟] sake lees, i.e. the solids that are left after pressing the sake from the mash. Depending on the amount of pressure used, an off-white paste or crumbly sheets. Can be used in cooking and baking but also for cosmetics.

Kome (also o-kome)
[米] Rice. In compound words, the same character is also pronounced ‘mai’, see saka-mai [酒米].

Koji (also kouji)
[麹] Aspergillus oryzae, a fungus whose enzymes can break down the starch molecules of the rice or other grains into sugars. There are different strains of koji, named after their colour: black, white and yellow. Yellow koji is the variety commonly used in sake production. The amount of fungus present on the grains influences the speed of the fermentation. Steamed rice that has been treated with the fungus is also sometimes referred to as koji. Koji is also used for making shochu, miso, soy sauce and mirin.

Koshu (also ko-shu, kosyu)
[古酒] Aged sake. Usually aged for 3 years or more. As it matures, the sake takes on a golden or brown colour. Expect notes of honey, roasted nuts, and with increasing age even ham and soy sauce.

Masu
[升] Square wooden box traditionally for measuring grains. A common size holds 1 go, about 180 ml. Sometimes used for serving sake.

Moromi
[醪] The main fermentation mash.

Nigorizake (also nigori-zake)
[濁酒][にごり酒] Cloudy (lit. ‘muddy’) sake. While all Japanese Sake has to be filtered to be considered sake, here a very rough mesh is used when extracting the sake from the mash, allowing some of the solids to remain in the final product.
—See also usu-nigori and origarami.

Nihonshu (also nihon-shu, nihonsyu)
[日本酒] Commonly used Japanese term for sake. Lit. ‘Japanese alcohol’

Nihonshu-do
[日本酒度] ‘Sake Meter Value’ (SMV) in English. The value can be used as an indicator of sweetness: the higher the number, the dryer the sake (-3 would be very sweet, +10 very dry). It is calculated from the specific gravity of the sake, which is influenced by sugar and alcohol content. But as the perception of sweetness depends on many factors, the number might not always accurately reflect the taste.

Nurukan
[温燗] Warm sake, served at 40ºC. —See kanzake

O-choko
[お猪口] A small cylindrical sake cup, smaller than a guinomi (see there) but often used for all kinds of sake cups. Ochoko can be made of any material; common are porcelain, clay, glass, tin, or wood.

Omachi
[雄町] Very old rice variety, loved by many enthusiasts. Difficult to grow and work with. Often used to make umami-rich junmai sake with great depth and character.

Origarami
[おりがらみ] A term for cloudy sake (similar to nigorizake). In contrast to nigorizake, this contains fewer and only very fine particles (which would usually be collected as a sediment when the sake rests in tank after pressing) of rice and yeast so the colour and texture will be lighter than most other cloudy sake. Not very common. —See also usu-nigori.

Reishu (also rei-shu, reisyu)
[冷酒] Chilled sake.

Sakamai
[酒米] Rice used for brewing.

Sakazuki
[盃] A flat sake cup, like a small saucer or very shallow bowl. This is considered a very elegant shape and also used for ceremonial (e.g. weddings) or especially festive occasions (New Year). Common materials are red lacquerware, porcelain and also precious metals. Can also sometimes be used as a general term for sake cups of any shape and size.

Sake (also saké, saki, osake, o-sake, -zake) 
[酒] means ‘alcohol’ and is used as a blanket term for all alcoholic beverages in Japanese. A honorary prefix is usually added in both writing and speaking, i.e. [お酒] o-sake. In English and other western languages ‘sake’ usually means the Japanese drink made from rice, water and koji. The more precise Japanese term is Nihonshu [日本酒] ‘Japanese alcohol’. The term “Japanese Sake” is protected and may only be used for sake produced in Japan.

Sake meter value (SMV)
—See Nihonshu-do

San-do
[酸度] acidity. On sake labels, this is usually a number between 1.0 to 2.0. Sake with higher acidity will feel more dry and lean.

Seishu (also sei-shu, seisyu)
[清酒] Legal name for sake in Japan, used in official documents etc. Literally means ‘clear alcohol’.

Taru
[樽] A wooden barrel. Taru-zake [樽酒] is barrel-aged sake. The wood (usually Japanese cedar) imparts a very distinct flavour on the sake, even after only a few days. A barrel-breaking ceremony is often part of happy occasions like weddings or store openings and guests are then served the sake in a masu.

Usu-nigori
[薄濁り] Slightly cloudy sake. Often released as a seasonal item in early spring. (Usu=thin)

Yamada Nishiki
[山田錦] Most popular rice variety for sake brewing. Well suited for high polishing and thus ginjo/daiginjo sake.