Enjoyed the shrine’s Omiki, “Oiwa Jinja” at home

Good evening
Thank you very much for visiting this blog.

Today’s article is the very final one of “Mt. Oiwa series”.
I’d like to write about Omiki (libation, sacred sake) which I received at Oiwa Shrine and whose name is “Oiwa Jinja”.

Contents

The bag I received at Oiwa Shrine

In the last blog, I mentioned that I had almost left a bag of an amulet which I received at Oiwa Shrine in a coin locker at Hitachi Taga Station.
It should be pity that I had forgot about the present from the shrine, even though I was moved by the miracles which seemed to be made by the god.
Well, it was barely OK because I remembered it at the end^^;

Anyway, the bag is this.

I received it after climbing Mt. Oiwa, which I wrote about in the blog before last.
I took this photo when I received it at the shrine.
The amulet for the purification ceremony was enclosed in this bag.
The amulet’s height was a little shorter than the bag, and the width was a half of the bag’s.

The bag was very big.
I thought that the people of the shrine arranged such a big bag because I said that I would go home by train.
I was impressed by their consideration so much, so I just received the bag and left the shrine.

On the train home, my phone ran out of charge.
I had nothing to do to kill time, so I checked the inside of the bag.

Then, I found somethings other than the amulet in the bag.
I hesitated to open it in the train, so I decided to check it at home.

The time I came home was around 1 in midnight.
I was too tired to check the bag and went to bed straight.
I opened the bag 2 days later.

Considering things, I don’t write detailed explanations or put photos here, but there were some goods which the people of the shrine chose for me probably thinking about the story of my life.
I was so happy and moved to tears for their kindness.

Omiki, “Oiwa Shrine”

Among the goods of kindness, I’d like to introduce this one.

This is Omiki (libation, sacred sake).
I was surprised that they chose this present for me, administrator of this site “Sake Search”, which is database site of Sake(*^▽^*)

What does the sake for the god of Oiwa Shrine taste like?
I opened the package curiously.

The name is “Oiwa Jinja” (Oiwa Shrine)!

The proper name of this sake is “Junmai Ginjo Oiwa Jinja Nama Chozoshu”.
The brewery is Nemoto Shuzo, which locates in Hitachi Omiya City near Hitachi City.
This brewery was established in 1603 (the year when Tokugawa Ieyasu was appointed as Seii Taishogun and opened the Edo era), and their famous sake are “Kuji no Yama” and “Kamimaru”.

Drinking “Oiwa Jinja” at home

I usually want to keep such presents for a long time, and often forget to eat or drink them until the expiration dates pass.
This sacred sake was likely to become the same case.

By the way, I went out to the town of Asakusa in evening to find something to write about on this blog on the day before.
However, there were no places which I wanted to try on the night.

I was worried about what to write, but suddenly I remembered that there was the sacred sake in my fridge at home.
I decided to write about this sake instead of writing about a restaurant in Asakusa.

My mood was refreshed and went to Seiyu (supermarket which is subsidiary of Walmart) to get dishes for the sake on the way home.

What I got at the supermarket were,

Pickled vegetables.
But it was a bit different from this kind of pickled salad.
It was not so sour, and the bitterness of Yuzu citrus & sweetness of sesame dressing made it delicious.

Namul (Korean dish of seasoned vegetables).
The sesame oil for seasoning was very soft, so I could taste the vegetables well.

Deep fired flatfish.
The meat was soft, and the taste was thick enough without seasonings because of the coating.

But my tongue is not sensitive recently, so I personally wanted to have them with mild Ponzu vinegar (soy sauce with citrus juice) and Momiji-oroshi (grated daikon radish and chili).

And,

Deep fried chicken with shiso herb and cheese.
The plane taste of chicken and cheese matched well.
The salty taste of cheese is weak when it’s hot, but when it’s colder, the flavor becomes clear and good for a snack for sake.

I think that these snacks were well-balanced snacks of meat, fish, and vegetables!
… even though it’s a big volume^^;

The flavor of Omiki, “Oiwa Jinja”

I placed these snacks on the table.
And opened the Omiki, “Oiwa Jinja”, which was chilled well.
I had a sip.

Umm, it was nice!
It was a dry sake with a slight fruity taste of Ginjoshu.

The taste was light.
It had soft but unique taste of Ginjoshu.
The flavor of rice spread on my tongue a little after I had it in my mouth, which is a typical characteristic of Nihonshu.

When I had it with foods, it didn’t change the foods’ tastes, or the sake didn’t change its flavor itself either.

It doesn’t get influence from other things, or doesn’t give influence to other.
It just refreshes the tongue, and the original flavor always stands.

I might have been influenced by the impression of the bottle’s label.
But this sake’s clear and dry taste was just like the gods’ mountain, Mt. Oiwa, and it was worthy to be called Omiki.

Conclusion

This is really the last article of these series of Oiwa Shrine and Mt. Oiwa.
Time passed quickly, and the calendar is turning to June soon.
It’s been almost 1 month since “Golden Week” when I experienced many things at Mt. Oiwa and Oiwa Shrine.

The things haven’t changed great like my hope; “my business goes well, and an encounter with a good partner comes”, but no particular “bad luck” has happened since my trip to Mt. Oiwa, and I’ve been having calm days.

I think that it’s because of Mt. Oiwa’s unseen power and the gods’ power of Oiwa Shrine.
Meanwhile, I also thought that I can spend better times thanks to kind considerations and services of the shrine’s people, as much as the gods’ mysterious power.

To call back my life in the last few years, I was always tired of extreme busy days and things about my family.
Time passed while just working and sleeping.

At my work place, I was forced to do tasks one after another, and many problems brought to me.
I didn’t talk with other people at the office about things apart from work, and there was not much relationship with them.

I understood that such bad situations of mine broke the wheels of my life and brought me bad luck.
I couldn’t notice other people’s kindness, and I just led myself to bad direction.
Everything I did backfired while I couldn’t see important things around me.

Now I think that such a condition was “bad luck”.

If it’s true, a purification ceremony can’t solve the problems enough.
But also I need to notice that someone is thinking about me.
Otherwise, I cannot get out of the bad luck.

I understand that people at the shrine gave me many considerations to make me notice it.
It was a part of their purification ceremony.

I don’t know if my understanding is correct.
However, this is the answer for me, and now I’m having better days thanks to it.

I very much appreciate the shrine’s people for their help.
I will spend my life with this appreciation from now on.