— COLUMN / Culture
O-Toso and the New Year — Sake's Most Ancient Ritual
The medicinal spiced sake drunk at New Year's, its history, its meaning, and how it is still practiced today.
2026年3月7日
On New Year’s Day in Japan, families gather to drink “o-toso” — a sweetened, spiced sake drunk in a specific sequence, with specific vessels, following specific customs that have been observed for over a thousand years. It is the oldest and most unbroken sake ritual in Japanese culture.
The Origin
O-toso originated in China before being introduced to the Japanese imperial court in the early Heian period (around the 9th century). The name likely derives from a Chinese compound referring to drinking a medicinal preparation to expel evil spirits and promote health and longevity in the coming year.
The Ingredients
Traditional o-toso is made by steeping a packet of herbs and spices in sweet sake (mirin) or sake overnight. The traditional herb packet contains: Japanese pepper (sanshō), dried ginger, Japanese parsley (seri), atractylodes (oke-sō), and other ingredients that vary by tradition and region. The resulting liquid is mildly spiced, lightly sweet, and distinctly different from ordinary sake.
The Ritual
O-toso is drunk in the first days of January, typically on New Year’s morning after the family has assembled. The ceremony uses the “sankon” set — a lacquered tray holding three stacked flat cups of increasing size. Each family member drinks from the smallest to the largest cup, with the youngest members traditionally drinking first (so that their youth is transferred to the elders). The head of household drinks last.
O-Toso Today
The formal ritual is maintained by some families and increasingly ignored by others. But the impulse behind it — marking a threshold, gathering the family, using sake to consecrate the new year — remains culturally legible. Sake is still the ritual drink of Japanese renewal.