The pleasures of the cup

As some of you know, I host the occasional sake party. As a result, I sometimes get questions about how to chose something to serve or whether a particular sake is good or not.

( Read more...This turned out to be longer than I realized! )

Happy birthday, tatsushu!

A sprig of cherry
Reminds her of that meeting,
All smiles and poems.
Po Chu I sits on his shelf,
Flirting with Murasaki.

This one needs explaining to everyone who is not tatsushu. We had been acquainted on the Japanese lists for awhile, when business brought him to this part of the country. I invited him to visit. He appeared on my doorstep laden with a plastic container with a piece of barely budded cherry from his tree at home and a doll his lady had made for me, all with accompanying poems. When I took him to Japantown, he bought a couple of copies of Po's Selected Poems, then gave me one over lunch, since any court lady should have this classic text. When I glanced over my shoulder just now pondering the final two lines, I noticed that Po is nestled cozily beside the anthology A String of Flowers Untied.