Toso
Toso (屠蘇), or o-toso, is spiced medicinal sake traditionally drunk during New Year celebrations in Japan.
Culture
Toso is drunk to flush away the previous year's maladies and to aspire to lead a long life. For generations it has been said that "if one person drinks this his family will not fall ill; if the whole family does no-one in the village will fall ill", and has been a staple part of New Year's osechi cuisine in Japan.
Toso is written using two Japanese characters: 蘇 representing evil spirits and 屠 meaning to defeat.
Toso is made by combining several medicinal herbs to form tososan (屠蘇散), a spicy mixture, which is then soaked in sake or mirin. If made with mirin, essentially a sweet sake, it is suitable for drinking, but using fermented mirin seasoning would not be appropriate as it is too salty.
Three sizes of cup, called sakazuki (盃) (see picture), are used starting with the smallest, and passed round with each family member or guest taking a sip. Drinking rituals differ by region, but in formal situations would proceed from youngest to eldest. This tradition originated in China whereby the young effectively test the drink for toxins. However, in Japan, around the beginning of the Meiji or Shōwa periods, custom changed and the head of the household usually takes the first drink.
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7 Days, 7 Weeks
by: DeusSister love, why don't you break it up?
You got to let someone look into your heart
Sister love, how do you keep it up?
If you don't let no-one look into your heart
As a kid, you couldn't live it up
You were so serious but always so smart
As a kid, you couldn't keep it up
And we were never close, so much apart
Here comes the sun smiling
How long have you been blue?
There'd ever be a time for us to recapture
All the time we lose
There was a time when you were being so proud
Could have been anythin' that you aspired
There was a time when you were never around
When somethin' good happened, somethin' good happened right
So sister love, I'll help you off the ground
You got to let someone look into your heart
You got to turn this situation around
You got to turn this, turn it around
Here comes the sun smiling
How long have you been blue?
There'd ever be a time for us to recapture
All the time we lose
'Cause it's plain to see
A storm is not the weather
And I'm telling you girl
You'll look at them and smile
I'm telling you girl
You'll look at them and smile
7 days you should be givin' yourself
All your belongings, all that you treasure
7 weeks you think of nobody else
Is this what you want, is this what you are?
How did it come this far?
Here comes the sun smilin'
The only thing that's true
There'd ever be a time for us to recapture
All the time we lose
'Cause it's plain to see
A storm is not the weather
And I'm telling you girl
You'll look at them and smile
And I'm telling you girl
You'll look at them and smile
And I'm telling you girl
You'll look at them and smile
And I'm telling you girl