Ozeki Amazake Glass Cup with Red Kanji Print

A clear glass cup in the classic Japanese "cup sake" shape, printed all over in bright red with the Ozeki brand. You'll see the rope-ringed 大関 crest, a bold 甘酒 (amazake, sweet rice drink) label, and 大関蔵元造 (made by the Ozeki brewery). Lines of poetic kanji describe the drink's honey-like sweetness and its sake-lees flavour. On the back is the original label text, with the brewery's address in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo. It once held Ozeki's amazake, and now it makes a fun juice or water glass, a pencil holder or a tealight jar. It also suits anyone who collects Japanese drink glasses. The print is bright and the glass is clean.

Ozeki was founded in 1711 in the famous Nada brewing district of Hyōgo. On 10 October 1964, the opening day of the Tokyo Olympics, it launched One Cup Ozeki, Japan's first single-serve "cup sake" in a glass like this. It changed how people in Japan drank sake. The drink itself has a long history too: amazake is now thought of as a winter warmer, but in the Edo period it was sold on the streets of Edo in summer as a pick-me-up against the heat.