Sugidama

Sake breweries in Japan have a tradition of putting a new ‘sugidama’ (cedar ball) outside the brewery every year to let people know when a new brew is ready. This tradition is said to have originated from Omiwa Shrine, a shrine that deifies a god of alcohol in Nara prefecture and spread across Japan in the Edo period. The cedar ball changes color gradually from green to dark brown, indicating the aging of the new brew.

Photograph is the sugidama of Suzuki Shuzo
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