Ochoko, Guinomi, Sakazuki: Japanese Sake Cups Compared

The pleasure of drinking sake in Japan does not stop inside the cup. Which ware you drink from changes the way aroma rises, the way temperature carries, the feel against the mouth, and even the finish after you have swallowed — to a surprising degree.

Many people will have felt it: "can the same sake really differ this much from one cup to another?" Japan has held a deep particularity about the ware sake is served in since ancient times. The ochoko, the sakazuki, the guinomi, the katakuchi, the tokkuri — each has its history and its use, and each plays a part in drawing out the taste of the sake.

And Japanese sake ware exists by no means for sake alone. Using a guinomi as a rocks glass for whisky — the uses are limitless. Beer drunk from ceramic is markedly better too.

This article explains the kinds of Japanese sake ware and the differences between materials, how to choose ware to match how you drink, and recommended sake ware by region. For anyone tasting sake for the first time and for anyone who has drunk it for years alike, going deeper into the world of ware should widen the pleasure of both sake and pottery. On the cultural appeal of Japanese sake ware, the article below covers it, so do use it as a reference.

• Japanese Sake Ware: Vessels That Change the Taste

Kinds of Japanese Sake Ware

Ware for drinking sake is called shuki, and diverse forms have arisen according to use and occasion. Japanese drinking culture holds more than a thousand years of history, and over those long years ware optimal for the setting, the type of sake and the temperature has been made and refined in each region. First, the representative kinds, with the characteristics of each.

The Ochoko: The Basic Sake Cup

The ochoko is the most popular of all ware for drinking sake. A small cup around 5–7cm in diameter, it is widely used in izakaya and at home. Its capacity is a modest 30–60ml, a form suited to taking sake into the mouth a little at a time.

Theories differ on the origin of the name, but the word choko has been in use since the Edo period, and just as chokotto means "a little" in Japanese, it is said to mean "a small cup for a little." Forms are often cylindrical or flaring, and materials range widely across earthenware, porcelain, glass and lacquer.

The greatest characteristic of the ochoko is that pouring and drinking a little at a time lets you enjoy the sake's change in temperature as you go. It handles every temperature range — hot, warm, room temperature — and can be called the all-purpose ware for drinking sake. Its small mouth also holds back the more volatile aromas somewhat, making the outline of the sake easier to feel clearly.

The Sakazuki: Ware for Rites, Toasts and Shinto Ceremony

The sakazuki is shallower and flatter still than the ochoko. Its mouth is wide but it has almost no depth, and the amount of sake it holds is small. Much used at san-san-kudo in Japanese weddings, at shrine rites, and in toasts, it is ware carrying ceremonial and formal meaning.

Pour sake into a sakazuki and the wide mouth increases the area of contact with the air, so the aroma rises softly. It is very gentle against the mouth, with a sense of sake touching the whole lip. Drinking a sake rich in the savour of rice — a junmai, an aged sake — from a shallow sakazuki lets its sweetness and depth come through directly.

Materials range widely: lacquer, ceramics, metal (tin, silver, gold). Lacquer sakazuki in particular have a sense of luxury, and have been used at ceremonial occasions and for otoso at New Year. → Urushi Lacquerware: How Japanese Lacquer Is Made

The Guinomi: A Little Larger, for Drinking at Leisure

The guinomi is a size larger than the ochoko, with a capacity of around 60–120ml. In Japanese, drinking briskly is described as gui-tto nomu, and the name is said to come from that action — an image of drinking boldly, yet unhurriedly.

Forms are often cylindrical or like a yunomi, and the depth means aroma gathers inside the cup, suiting the splendid fragrance of ginjo and daiginjo. Its size also lets the hand grip it firmly, so with ceramics the warmth (or the cold) of the piece carries through the hand, and you enjoy sake with all the senses.

From an evening drink at an izakaya to drinking alone at home, the guinomi is the sake ware best suited to everyday use. Many sake lovers make a hobby of collecting distinctive guinomi by individual makers, and it is often where a collection of sake ware begins.

The Katakuchi: A Small Pourer for Serving Sake

The katakuchi is a small pourer with a lip on one side. Unlike the tokkuri its mouth opens wide, so sake is easy to pour, and it also suits cooling or warming a small amount of sake within the piece itself.

The style of transferring chilled sake to a katakuchi to serve has spread in recent years in sake bars and restaurants, and managing the temperature by setting the katakuchi in a tub of ice is common too. Capacities are often around 100–300ml, just right for transferring one to two go of sake (one go = 180ml).

They come in earthenware, porcelain and glass, and both look and sense of use change with the material. A katakuchi of high design quality, which makes a picture set straight on the table, is welcomed as a gift when gathered as a set with guinomi.

The Tokkuri: Sake Ware for Warming

The tokkuri is best known as ware for warming sake. Its form is characterised by a narrow neck and a swelling body, and capacities of one go (180ml) to two go (360ml) are usual.

Warming is done basically by hot-water bath. The tokkuri is set into a pan of hot water or an electric warmer and heated slowly. The narrow neck of the tokkuri has a functional reason: heat escapes less readily, so the temperature of the sake is easier to hold.

The most common material for tokkuri is earthenware, whose clay holds the temperature of the sake moderately. Porcelain tokkuri conduct heat faster, warming quickly but also cooling quickly. The tokkuri is indispensable in sake culture, and tokkuri with forms and glazes particular to each local kiln are still being made today. In use as a pourer it is close to the decanter familiar in Europe and America.

Differences by Material, and How to Choose

The material of sake ware affects the temperature, aroma and taste of sake directly. Even if you have been choosing ware more or less by feel, knowing the properties of each material makes the choice far more enjoyable.

Earthenware: Ideal for Warmed Sake, Adding Roundness

Earthenware is fired at low temperature (800–1,300°C) from clay as the main raw material. It absorbs more than porcelain and the surface is often slightly rough. Its low thermal conductivity holds the temperature of warm sake slowly, and it is a material through which warmth carries readily to the palm.

Drink warmed sake from an earthenware ochoko or tokkuri and the edge comes off it, feeling rounder. This is said to be an effect of the invisible fine irregularity of earthenware bringing air and sake into subtle contact, so that oxidation proceeds gently and the savour is drawn out. For warmed junmai, an earthenware tokkuri with earthenware ochoko is the best combination of all.

Different from sake, but drinking beer from a ceramic cup also brings the surface irregularity into fine combination with the air, giving a good head and a beer that is pleasant against the mouth.

Earthenware regions across Japan — Bizen, Hagi, Shigaraki, Iga — make a great deal of sake ware, and the pleasure of nurturing a piece that changes the more it is used is another part of earthenware's appeal.

• Bizen Ware: Pottery With No Glaze at All
• Hagi Ware: The Tea Bowl That Changes Colour as You Use It
• Shigaraki Ware: Why Its Clay Sparkles After 1,200 Years
• Iga Ware: Fire, Ash and the Beauty of Rough Clay

Porcelain: Lifting the Clean Taste of Chilled Sake

Porcelain is fired at high temperature (1,200–1,400°C) from raw materials such as feldspar and kaolin. Dense and hard, with almost zero absorbency and a smooth surface. Its high thermal conductivity carries the cold of chilled sake quickly to the outside, giving a pleasant coolness in the hand.

Drink chilled sake from a porcelain cup and the clear sharpness of the sake stands out. Clear chilled sake poured into pure white porcelain is exceptional in visual beauty too. Japan's porcelain regions — Arita, Hasami, Kutani — produce many sakazuki and guinomi with fine painting, and these hold high value as collectors' items.

When enjoying sake in the cold ranges — chilled, room temperature, hanabie — we recommend choosing porcelain. On the difference between earthenware and porcelain, the article below organises it in detail.

• Stoneware vs Porcelain: How to Tell Them Apart

Lacquerware: Suited to Warm Sake, Soft Against the Mouth

Lacquerware is finished by layering urushi over a wooden base. A traditional Japanese craft, it has long been used for sakazuki and drinking cups. Urushi has an insulating effect, holding the temperature of warmed sake at leisure, while its softness against the mouth brings a distinctive comfort.

Drink nurukan (around 40°C) from a lacquer sakazuki and the scent of urushi joins the sake for a flavour of remarkable gentleness. A lacquer sakazuki with gold makie is ware of standing, used at occasions that stand apart such as New Year and weddings.

Lacquerware is strong against water, but dishwashers and microwaves are strictly forbidden. Care demands attentiveness, but it is also a material that lets you enjoy the change over years as the gloss of urushi increases with use. Echizen lacquer (Fukui), Wajima lacquer (Ishikawa), Aizu lacquer (Fukushima) — each region has its own lacquer culture.

Glass: Showing Off Fruity Ginjo

Glass sake ware spread in Japan from the Meiji period onward and settled into ordinary homes along with the boom in chilled sake. The colour and clarity of the sake are visible through transparent glass, letting you enjoy its visual beauty fully.

Sake with a fruity, splendid aroma — ginjo, daiginjo — rises vividly when drunk from a glass guinomi or sakazuki, and the freshness in the mouth stands out. Glass conducts heat well and carries cold immediately, making chilled sake feel crisper.

Guinomi in traditional cut glass such as Edo kiriko (Tokyo) or Satsuma kiriko (Kagoshima) hold high value as crafts and are popular as special gifts. Simple, modern glass sake ware by contemporary makers is also increasing, settling easily onto a table that mixes Japanese and Western.

Choosing Ware by How You Drink

Sake is classified by ways of drinking according to temperature, and the way its aroma and savour emerge changes greatly with that temperature. Matching material and form to the temperature range draws out the appeal of sake to the fullest.

Hot and Warm Sake: An Earthenware Tokkuri and Ochoko

For warmed sake — atsukan (around 50°C), tobikiri-kan (above 55°C), nurukan (around 40°C) — the combination of an earthenware tokkuri and ochoko is best. Earthenware holds heat well and has the property of keeping the warmed temperature slowly. Its characteristic slightly rough texture is also said to bring sake into fine contact with air, drawing out the savour.

Sake suited to warming is the fuller kind: junmai, honjozo, aged sake. Ginjo and daiginjo are unsuited to warming, since heat drives off their delicate ginjo fragrance.

How you pour matters too. Pouring hot sake a little at a time and drinking on steadily keeps it always at the right temperature.

Chilled and Room-Temperature Sake: A Porcelain or Glass Cup

When drinking in the cold ranges — reishu (5–10°C), hanabie (around 10°C), suzubie (around 15°C) — porcelain and glass suit well. A cool material lifts the coldness of the sake, bringing a drinking feel full of freshness.

Sake suited to chilling is that with a fruity aroma — ginjo, daiginjo, junmai ginjo — and sparkling sake. Chilling a ginjo well and drinking it from a glass guinomi in particular gives a fresh taste in which splendour of aroma and sharpness are in harmony.

Hiya means room temperature (around 20°C), the state that is neither warmed nor chilled. Chilled sake was once called hiya, but today what has been cooled in a refrigerator is generally called reishu. Tasting a room-temperature junmai slowly from a porcelain ochoko is also a way of feeling the sake's own taste.

Ware Suited to Junmai, Ginjo and Aged Sake

Junmai is made from rice and koji alone, rich in body and savour. Drunk from an earthenware ochoko or sakazuki, warm to room temperature, the sweetness and savour of the rice spread softly.

The appeal of ginjo and daiginjo is the fruity ginjo fragrance born of long fermentation at low temperature. Chilled well and drunk from a glass or thin porcelain guinomi, they can be enjoyed without losing the vividness of that aroma.

Aged sake takes on an amber colour and holds a complex aroma and taste like dried fruit and nuts. Drunk from a lacquer sakazuki or a thick earthenware ochoko, at room temperature to warm, the depth of the sake increases and the time becomes exceptional. → Sake and Its Vessels: A Guide to Drinking It Properly

Recommended Sake Ware by Region

In ceramic regions across Japan, sake ware rich in individuality is made from local climate and craft skill. As a reference for choosing, here are the representative regions and their characteristics.

Bizen Ware, Okayama: Lifting Warmed Sake to Its Best

Bizen ware, produced mainly in the city of Bizen in Okayama Prefecture, is unglazed Yakishime (unglazed fired ware). It is characterised by natural patterns called hiiro, scarlet, and goma, sesame, born of firing slowly at 1,000–1,300°C. Pour a drink into Bizen ware and the fine irregularity of the surface is also said to improve the head on beer.

For warming, a heat-holding Bizen tokkuri and ochoko are superb; matched with warmed junmai, the sweetness and savour of the rice are drawn out firmly. On Bizen ware, the article below explains it in detail from its historical background, so do use it as a reference.

• Bizen Ware: Pottery With No Glaze at All

Hagi Ware, Yamaguchi: Soft Ware Suited to Warm Sake

Hagi ware, handed down in the city of Hagi in Yamaguchi Prefecture, is earthenware characterised by soft tones of white, pink and orange. Highly absorbent, it lets you enjoy the change over years called the "seven changes," in which colour shifts the more it is used.

Its fine clay receives sake softly, drawing out the gentle savour of warm sake. Prized in the world of tea as well, Hagi ware is loved in the world of sake to the point of the saying that warmed sake drunk from a Hagi ochoko is exceptional. On the crazing that produces this change over years, see the article below.

• Crazing (Kannyu): Cracks in Glaze That Aren't Damage

Arita Ware, Saga: Porcelain That Shows Chilled Sake Beautifully

Arita ware, centred on the town of Arita in Saga Prefecture, is Japan's oldest porcelain region, with more than 400 years of history. The beauty of its white porcelain and its delicate Sometsuke (blue and white porcelain) and overglaze colours are highly regarded worldwide.

Thin Arita sakazuki and guinomi lift the transparent beauty of chilled sake, colouring the table splendidly along with their fine painting. Drinking a chilled ginjo or daiginjo from an Arita sakazuki is a rich time in which sight, scent and taste are enjoyed at once.

Kutani Ware, Ishikawa: Splendid Cups in Overglaze Colour

Kutani ware, handed down in southern Ishikawa Prefecture, is overglaze porcelain characterised by vivid painting in red, yellow, green, purple and deep blue — the Gosai / Gosaide. Styles are diverse, from bold, powerful designs to delicate paintings of flowers and birds.

A Kutani sakazuki is ideal for a toast on a special occasion or as a gift, its smooth porcelain feel and visual splendour lifting chilled sake. Popular as a collectors' item too, a Kutani sakazuki by an individual maker becomes a treasure for life.

Echizen Lacquer, Fukui: Taking It Slowly From a Lacquer Cup

Echizen lacquer, produced mainly in the cities of Sabae and Echizen in Fukui Prefecture, holds more than 1,500 years of history. Characterised by strength and practicality, it is known as lacquerware that stands up to daily use.

Warm sake drunk from a lacquer sakazuki feels round and gentle, its soft feel against the mouth joining with its insulation. Vermilion and black sakazuki are high in standing to look at as well, and show to advantage at New Year otoso and at toasts on special occasions. Echizen lacquer guinomi are easy to use for an ordinary evening drink too, lending Japanese dignity to the everyday table.

Caring for Sake Ware

To go on using beautiful sake ware for a long time, care appropriate to the material matters.

• Caring for earthenware　You need to bear its absorbency in mind. Before using new earthenware, performing Medome(Sealing,Seasoning) is ideal. Filling the piece with rice washing water and simmering it over low heat for 10–20 minutes closes the pores of the earthenware so that dirt and smell soak in less readily. After use, wash gently with neutral washing-up liquid and dry thoroughly before storing. Stacked while still damp, it causes mould and smell.
• Caring for porcelain　There is no need to be as careful as with earthenware. Many pieces can go in a dishwasher, though hand washing is recommended for those with delicate painting. Washing with neutral detergent and wiping dry with a cloth before storing is enough. Since porcelain does not absorb, smells transfer less readily and it is easy to keep hygienic.
• Caring for lacquerware　Dishwashers and microwaves are strictly forbidden. Wash with a soft sponge in lukewarm water with diluted neutral detergent, and wipe with a dry cloth. Urushi is weak against direct sunlight, so store it out of the sun. Lacquerware, whose gloss increases the more it is used, can be kept in service for over a hundred years with proper care.
• Glass sake ware　Basically there is no problem washing with neutral detergent. With finely worked pieces such as kiriko, though, take care not to scratch them with a sponge. Fingerprints and water marks show readily, so wiping straight after use keeps them beautiful.

On caring for earthenware, the article below explains it in detail, so do use it as a reference as well.

• How to Care for Japanese Ceramics: A Practical Guide

Sake Ware as a Gift

As a gift for someone who loves to drink, sake ware is welcomed warmly. Rather than giving the drink itself, giving sake ware carries a special value in the sense of giving "the richness of time spent drinking together." With a guinomi or ochoko, drinks other than sake can be enjoyed for the way they change too. Taking whisky a little at a time from a guinomi — the uses are various.

• A region or a maker brings exceptional pleasure　"A guinomi made by a pupil of a Bizen Living National Treasure," "a sometsuke sakazuki from a long-established Arita kiln" — sake ware with a story behind it becomes a gift that stays in the recipient's memory. Giving it with information about the region and the maker helps their interest in sake ware widen.
• A recommended set　A tokkuri plus two ochoko. It is a way of giving that assumes drinking with someone rather than alone, conveying the message "let us drink together." A katakuchi plus two guinomi is popular too, as a style for enjoying chilled sake.
• Wrapping and a note　Giving it boxed and wrapped in washi is the orthodox way, but adding a card summarising the region, the firing and the care makes the recipient comfortable using it. With absorbent earthenware especially, telling them to perform medome before use is a kindness.

At Nokaze we wrap the piece you choose as a gift with real care, and deliver it.

• For Gift｜Japanese pottery & culture
• Japanese Pottery as a Gift: What to Choose for Whom

Change the Ware, and the World of the Sake Changes

The relationship between Japanese sake and its ware runs very deep: sake is not born of a brewery's skill and rice and water alone. The ware it is served in is also one important element completing the taste of the sake. Knowing the form and role of each — ochoko, sakazuki, guinomi, katakuchi, tokkuri — and choosing ware with an understanding of the properties of materials, a single bottle of the same sake can show an entirely new face.

An evening tipping warm sake, carefully heated in an earthenware tokkuri, slowly from a Bizen ochoko. The moment of chilling a ginjo in a glass guinomi and being wrapped in its aroma. Time spent gazing at the amber of an aged sake poured into a lacquer sakazuki, thinking of the handwork of craftspeople in a distant region.

Japanese sake ware has the power to draw out such rich experience. Do begin the journey of looking for the one favourite piece that is yours. Visiting kilns in the regions, choosing sake ware while tasting at a specialist sake shop, meeting a one-of-a-kind piece by an individual maker — the world of sake ware is very wide, and very deep.

A particularity about ware will deepen your attachment to sake further, and make the time you spend drinking richer in itself.

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