Japan’s sake joins Unesco’s cultural heritage list
LUQUE, Paraguay—Sake is perhaps more Japanese than the world-famous sushi. It’s brewed in centuries-old mountaintop warehouses, savored in the country’s pub-like izakayas, poured during weddings and served slightly chilled for special toasts.
The smooth rice wine that plays a crucial role in Japan’s culinary traditions was enshrined on Wednesday by Unesco on its list of the “intangible cultural heritage of humanity.”
At a meeting in Luque, Paraguay, members of Unesco’s committee for safeguarding humanity’s cultural heritage voted to recognize 45 cultural practices and products around the world, including Brazilian white cheese, Caribbean cassava bread and Palestinian olive oil soap.
‘Divine gift’
Unlike Unesco’s World Heritage List, which includes sites considered important to humanity like the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt, the Intangible Cultural Heritage designation names products and practices of different cultures that are deserving of recognition.
A Japanese delegation welcomed the announcement in Luque.
“Sake is considered a divine gift and is essential for social and cultural events in Japan,” Kano Takehiro, the Japanese ambassador to Unesco, told The Associated Press.
The basic ingredients of sake are few: rice, water, yeast and koji, a rice mold, which breaks down the starches into fermentable sugars like malting does in beer production.
The whole two-monthlong process of steaming, stirring, fermenting and pressing can be grueling.
The rice—which wields tremendous marketing power as part of Japan’s broader cultural identity—is key to the alcoholic brew.
For a product to be categorized Japanese sake, the rice must be Japanese.
‘Tale of Genji’
The Unesco recognition, the delegation said, captured more than the craft knowledge of making high-quality sake. It also honored a tradition dating back some 1,000 years—sake makes a cameo in Japan’s famous 11th century novel, “The Tale of Genji,” as the drink of choice in the refined Heian court.
