Sake bottle - Tokuri

A type of sake vessel, a container for pouring sake into a cup. It is mainly made of ceramics. It is also called "tokkuri." Most of them have a narrow mouth and a tall shape with a bulging body. This name has been seen since the mid-Muromachi period, and the characters tokkuri, tokuri, and tokuri have also been used. Tokkuri were originally used to hold soy sauce, vinegar, and other things in addition to sake, but nowadays they are considered to be containers for sake. One theory about the origin of the word tokkuri is that many tokkuri were made from Bizen ware, and Bizen ware was cheap and sturdy, so the name was given to it because it was a tokkuri, but this is not certain.

Tokkuri sizes varied from 3 sho (approximately 5.4 liters) to 1 go (approximately 0.18 liters). Of these, tokkuri that held 5 go (approximately 0.9 liters) to 1 sho (approximately 1.8 liters) were used as rental containers by liquor stores, and were commonly called poor tokkuri. On the other hand, small tokkuri that held 1 to 2 go (kan tokkuri) were widely used until the early Taisho period, when the custom of drinking sake indirectly by heating it in combination with a choko (a sake cup). After that, the 2 go tokkuri gradually fell out of use, and 1 go and even smaller ones came to be used.

[Tomomi Kono]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

酒器の一種で、酒を入れて杯(さかずき)に注(つ)ぐための容器。おもに陶磁器でつくられている。「とっくり」ともいう。口径が狭く、胴の膨らんだ背の高い形のものが多い。室町時代中期からこの名がみられ、得利、徳裏、陶などの字もあてられた。徳利は、初めは酒のほか、しょうゆや酢などを入れる容器にも用いられたが、現在では酒を入れる容器とされている。徳利の語源については、一説に、徳利は備前(びぜん)焼でつくられたものが多く、備前焼は安価で堅固であるところから徳利であるという意味で名づけられたというが、さだかではない。

　徳利の大きさは、3升（約5.4リットル）から1合（約0.18リットル）用までさまざまであった。このうち、5合（約0.9リットル）から1升（約1.8リットル）入りの徳利は酒店の貸容器として用いられ、これを俗に貧乏徳利とよんでいた。一方、1～2合入りの小形の徳利（燗(かん)徳利）は、ちょことの組み合わせで、酒を間接的に温めて飲む習慣の普及した大正初期まで広く用いられた。その後2合徳利はしだいに廃れ、1合入り、さらにはそれより小形のものが用いられるようになっている。

［河野友美］

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