A Strange Little Ball: Sake's Sugidama  11/2002

In front of every Japanese sake brewery, there hangs a round bush-like bundle of sugi or Japanese cedar branches. This object is called sugidama ("cedar ball") or sakabayashi ("sake forest") and is used as a kind of store sign for sake breweries. Even when I went to visit the Gekkeikan sake brewery which is located in the city of Folsom in Northern California, I saw one hanging there. The photo in this article is from that time.

The connection between Japanese cedar and sake is very old, and the wood is used in various capacities, such as for easing the sake-making process or for its inherent antibacterial properties. For example, it is used for sake-making buckets, barrels and for masu, the square wooden cup that sake is traditionally served in. Also, when water needs to be removed from a bucket of soaking sake rice, the fine leaves of the cedar is employed as a kind of strainer, preventing the rice from falling out.

The origin of sugidama traces back to the Edo Era (1615 -1868). There are two leading theories as to where it came from. One is that, when a new batch of sake became ready, the brewer would line up cedar branches in front of the store to signal that fresh sake was for sale. From that, it simply evolved into hanging a bundle of those branches. Others trace the origin back to a cedar tree that is worshipped as the personification of the sake god at the Miwa Shrine in Nara. Which theory is the true one is not known, but in either case, the sugidama took on the role of being the store sign for breweries.

When new sake is ready, a fresh, green sugidama is hung. This not only symbolizes that the sake is well made, but it also calls for the blessing of the gods. At the end of the year—when that new sake is usually ready—a new, fresh green sugidama is usually hung, giving a kind of thanks for the previous year's production. Then, as the sake-making process is begun again, the sugidama gradually withers and turns brown, mirroring the fermenting process that is occurring in the workshop. So the sugidama, which is a symbol for the sale of sake, becomes a symbol for the sake itself.

In Japan, the brewery's symbol is the sugidama. In the West, there are equivalents. The pine tree in Greek mythology was considered the sacred tree of Bacchus, the wine god. And a tavern associated with an Austrian winemaker called Heulige features a kind of fir tree branch as its sign, and it is said that they serve newly available wine. This is certainly a remarkable resemblance between East and West. Perhaps because folktales and customs are spread through migrations of people over time, ideas can be exchanged across continents.

Today, we still see sugidama in front of breweries, but, while things change every year, they say this happens less and less, and because people who understand its meaning decrease, it loses its effectiveness as advertisement, so those who make sugidama become fewer and fewer.

However, sugidama have been making a comeback recently. The survival of old but good traditions is something to be happy about. We hope that as long as there are sake breweries, we will see sugidama. By the way, it's about that time they put up a new one at the Gekkeikan brewery in Folsom.