Japan History and Culture

Otoso or Toso (お屠蘇)

Toso is written using two Japanese characters: 蘇 representing evil spirits and 屠 meaning to defeat.

Toso, is spiced medicinal sake traditionally drunk on New Year Day (Oshogatsu) to ward off sickness for the entire year ahead and to wish for long happy 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”, Toso was initially made and taken in order to protect oneself from the cold. It later became an essential drink to celebrate the New Year.

Toso mixture is prepared by mixing several herbs including Sanshou (Japanese pepper), Kikyou (balloonflower) and Heihi (cassis bark). Then the toso mixture is steeped with sake and mirin (sweetened sake).  Otoso is drunk using a special set of three different sizes of sake cups: small, medium and large , called sakazuki (盃). It is customary for the youngest in the family to drink it before the oldest, though this varies by region. This custom originated in China where younger people would test it first for toxins.  However in Japan, around the beginning of the Meiji or Shōwa periods, the head of the household usually takes first to drink the toso which then became the custom.

The tradition of drinking toso at the New Year began in the Tang Dynasty in China, and was adopted by Japanese aristocrats during the Heian period. The first cup drunk would be made with tososan, and the second and third cups with different varieties called byakusan and toshōsan.