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Komo-daru Outside an Izakaya: A Small Detail of Tokyo’s New Year
居酒屋の前に置かれた菰樽が語る東京の正月
The sake barrels (kazari-daru・飾り樽) often seen stacked high at Shinto shrines, especially around New Year’s, are purely decorative. They are left empty, partly for safety, as securing heavy, liquid-filled barrels overhead would pose a risk to worshippers. As the name suggests, kazari means “decoration,” while daru refers to a cask or barrel.
The barrel in my photograph, however, is a komo-daru (菰樽), the term used for a straw-wrapped sake barrel that is traditionally filled with sake. Komo refers to the straw matting that surrounds the barrel and serves as the surface for decorative labeling. Beneath the straw, the barrel itself is constructed from cedar planks bound together with bamboo braids. I was surprised to learn that these barrels were historically used not only for sake, but also to transport bulk liquids such as oil, soy sauce, and even lacquer.
One detail that stood out to me is that wooden barrels are not used for brewing or long-term storage of sake. Unlike oak barrels used in whiskey production, cedar would significantly alter the flavor. As a result, wooden sake barrels, which are also called sake-daru (酒樽), are typically filled only briefly. Those seen at weddings or ceremonial events usually hold sake for just a few days before it is served.
It took some back-and-forth with an older friend, but we were eventually able to decipher parts of the labeling on this particular komo-daru.
The two vertical black characters and the large central character together form a single phrase: 富久娘 (Fukumusume). Literally translated, it can mean “Daughter of Fortune” or “Lucky Maiden.” This is the name of a long-established sake brand produced by 富久娘酒造株式会社 (Fukumusume Shuzō Co., Ltd.), a brewery based in Hyōgo Prefecture with origins dating back to 1681.
The bold calligraphy feels distinctly old-fashioned to me and immediately evokes a sense of tradition. It’s a style I associate with hanging scrolls displayed behind flower arrangements whether in a tatami room or at an ikebana exhibition in my local city hall.
At the bottom of the barrel, the brand name appears again as フクムスメ in red katakana. This was likely added for clarity, as the main calligraphy is written in sōsho (草書), a highly cursive script that can be difficult to read without prior familiarity or context.
On the left side of the barrel, we struggled to fully interpret the red cursive calligraphy and the circular seal beneath it. One element, however, was immediately clear: the text at the top reads 商標 (shōhyō), meaning “registered trademark,” roughly equivalent to the ® symbol.
Resting on the wooden lid is a bamboo ladle, used to serve sake into newly made square masu cups (枡). These cups are typically crafted from hinoki (Japanese cypress) and often branded with a character, symbol, or name commemorating the occasion. Since this photograph was taken in front of an izakaya called Kassen Ichiba, the name of the pub (活鮮市場) is burned directly into the wood of each cup.
From the Edo period (1603–1867), cedar casks were the primary vessels used to transport sake from breweries to Edo (modern-day Tokyo). By the 1890s, glass bottles gradually replaced them. Today, wooden sake barrels are largely reserved for ceremonial use, such as during New Year’s celebrations, which was when I captured this photograph.
- Location: Ameya-Yokocho, Taito Ward, Tokyo
- Timestamp: 2026/01/02・13:39
- Fujifilm X100V with 5% diffusion filter
- 23 mm ISO 320 for 1/125 sec. at ƒ/5.6
- Provia Standard film simulation
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