【Reading】あつかん

【English Name】Atsukan (Hot Sake)

Atsu-kan is a term for sake (Japanese rice wine) heated to about 50°C, also called teki-kan. When served in a tokkuri (sake flask), the guideline temperature is one at which steam just begins to rise.

Drinking temperatures for sake have detailed names, set in stages from hinata-kan at around 30°C to tobikiri-kan above 55°C. Atsu-kan is positioned toward the higher end among these. According to the classification of the National Research Institute of Brewing, the more it is heated, the stronger the aroma becomes and the drier it tends to taste. On the other hand, sweetness is said to increase as the temperature rises.

The culture of warming sake to drink dates back to the Heian period, and the Engishiki records an earthenware pot (do-iri-nabe) for warming. The character "kan" was written as "間" (ma, meaning interval) in the Muromachi period, used in the sense of making it between cold and hot. The current notation with the fire radical is said to have been established in the Meiji period. From the Bunka-Bunsei era of Edo onward, the custom of enjoying warmed sake regardless of season became established.

At sushi restaurants, a well-known way of drinking is to pour hot warmed sake over fish fins (hire-zake) or fish bones (kotsu-zake) to extract the fish's umami. Sake suited to warming is said to be junmai-shu or honjozo-shu with rich flavor, while daiginjo, which emphasizes aroma, and nama-zake (unpasteurized sake), valued for freshness, are considered unsuitable.