And, you can wash it by pouring water and cleanser in it and shaking it.
All right. I will use a sponge attached a handle to clean it.
This tokkuri is made from Mashiko-yaki ceramics.
Isn't it a choshi?
Though it's often called a choshi, the original word for it is tokkuri.
Is it? I always thought it was called a choshi.
Originally, the word choshi was for containers used to warm sake.
Is the appearance same as a tokkuri?
No. while tokkuri are made of ceramics in most cases, choshi are containers made of steel.
A choshi has a long handle and a spout, and in the old days, they poured sake into a choshi to warm it over a charcoal fire directly.
Are choshi no longer used?
We hardly ever see them now.
At the end of the Edo period, they found that sake warmed in hot water in a tokkuri tasted better, and that made people stop using choshi.
I have heard people call a tokkuri a choshi in a restaurant, but is that a mistake?
I remember my Japanese friend also ordered using the expression "two O-choshi, please."
That's a vestige of the old custom of using the word choshi for warm sake.
I see. So that's the reason.
I came here to look for some nice containers for sake.
Do you enjoy sake?
Yes, I've been attracted by the taste of sake, since I first came to Japan.
I especially like tasty types such as Honjyozo-shu or Jyunmai-shu.
So, do you normally drink warm sake?
Yes, I often enjoy warm sake.
Then, I'd like to recommend these tokkuri and ochoko.
Though I haven't warmed sake by myself because I always drink it in a restaurant, is it possible for me to do it well on my own?
If it is hard to warm it in hot water, you can use a microwave oven, too.
For 1 goh, I recommend that you warm it for 40 seconds to 1 minute in a microwave oven.
Using a microwave oven sounds easy.
Please remember to wrap the neck of the tokkuri with plastic wrap when you microwave it.
All right. I'll try it tonight.
Sake tastes wonderful when you drink it with a tokkuri and an ochoko.
Yes, I think so, too. I also enjoy the way that the server and the person being served communicate.
In what region are these tokkuri and ochoko made?
This set of tableware for sake is Kutani-yaki.
It's wonderful because the feeling of the soil remains just as it is.
Yes, I love its simple style.
I will take this tokkuri and ochoko set as a present for father.
Thank you very much. Would you like me to giftwrap them?
Yes, please. How much are they?
The price is 12960 yen before taxes.
All right. Can you send packages abroad?
We can send packages overseas.
If you like, I will enclose a foreign language brochure in your package.
The brochure explains our merchandise in six languages.
What country are you going to send it to?
I'd like to send it to Germany.
Sure, no problem. We have brochures in German.
I'd like to buy a tokkuri. Is this the right area?
Yes, this is where we display tableware for alcohol.
Although I haven't seen a container in this shape, is it also a tokkuri?
No, that is a katakuchi.
It is a container for sake like a tokkuri.
Do you pour sake through this spout?
Yes, a katakuchi holds from 1 to 2 goh of sake, just like a tokkuri.
But you can't warm sake in a katakuchi, can you?
No. We recommend a tokkuri for people who want to enjoy warm sake.