The Scent of Sake

This book is about a family dynasty, Japanese style. The Omura family have been sake brewers for generations. Women are not allowed into the brewery for fear their presence will sour the sake. Sole heir, young Rie is forced to turn over the business to the philanderer she has been forced to marry and whose children by other women she is expected to raise. But Rie is not ready to give up the fight and follow her mother's advice to "kill the self" in order to bear the demands the strict Japanese society places on a woman. The book presented tidbits regarding the rules of family and the sake brewing industry in Japan. It follows Rie and her family in an evolving world, such as the impact of the Europeans. If you enjoy intergenerational books about families, you will find this one interesting.

By good chance, I happened on Joyce Lebra's "The Scent of Sake". She has given us the gift of insight into the soul of a family and its culture. The setting in 19th Century Japan is beautifully evoked as we follow the life and growing awareness of the story's heroine, Rie. The author weaves this tale of intersecting desires, enterprise, and cultural expectations with great subtlety and engaging side plots--worthy of a Jane Austen. Rie's story is timeless in the sense of the obstacles she meets and manages to overcome. But Lebra is beyond the mere entertainment of Romance in her telling: she manages the story with such skill that it is touching but always realistic, exotically descriptive without the ennui of detail. Most of all, Scent of Sake is fun to read--a cross-cultural treat for the mind and heart.

Rie was born into a respected sake brewing family in the male-dominated world of ancient Japan. As the only surviving child, a daughter cannot succeed to be head of the family, so a husband is chosen for Rie to eventually take over the family business. Unfortunately, Jihei is weak and unfit for the task. Rie sees her opportunity to make her father proud and help the company ascend from behind the scenes. She does everything she can to make the business prosper, enduring a loveless marriage to a husband who drinks and fathers multiple children by geishas. Under Rie's unseen hand, White Tiger sake slowly climbs to the top. As I got further into this book, I began to privately feel that it was somewhat implausible; how could a woman gain so much power in feudal Japan? It was only after reading the note from Lebra that I understood - women like Rie have existed in Japan's history and often as an embarrassment to their families for millennia. In the end, despite my doubts, The Scent of Sake was a pleasant story, and while it didn't quite have the elegant language I typically associate with books on Japan, it flowed nicely and was a descriptive journey nonetheless. Reviewed by Holly Scudero

Professor Joyce Lebra has written an historical novel that combines both a sensibility of Japanese traditional memoirs and American manners. Ms. Lebra is one of those cross-cultural scholars who is equally comfortable in America and Japan. Having received her education at the University of Minnesota and Harvard/Radcliffe, she was the first American woman Ph.D in the discipline of Japanese History. . She has won many awards and has a large corpus of scholarly writings. Her affinity with Japanese culture is a result of living as a child in Honolulu and living in Japan for a total of ten years. The Scent of Sake is her first historical romance. It is no coincidence that her study of an 19th century female Japanese sake merchant echoes the approach of the famous 10th century Jdapanese female writer, Murasaki Shikibu. Professor Lebra is well aware of the history of Japanese literature and culture. During the Heian Period (973-1025 C.E.), women writers described the psychological conditions of women and their roles in society. These biographies introduced females who were savvy about their condition and who planned ways to promote their own power or identities. In later times, the novels about women were tragic: they often committed suicide alone or with their lover. The stories were filled with a melancholy about the futility of happiness and the swift passage of time into old age and loneliness. Rie, the heroine of this romance receives the sour advice from her mother upon the occasion of an arranged marriage that is bound to be unhappy: "Personal feelings have so little to do with marriage .. And you must try to be a good wife, Rie. Be compliant. Your feelings must not intrude." The mother then adds the declarative comment that trumps any attempt to have an individual life: "Women often find it necessary to `kill the self.' Otherwise life becomes too difficult." Joyce Lebra has dramatically revealed how Rie has ignored this advice. Rie's challenges are many: she devises a way to control the manufacturing of sake without becoming the official owner or manager of the operations. During the pre-modern period of Japanese history, women were not allowed to enter the brewery. Their gender would defile the purity of the sake. Yet she gradually took over from her incompetent and drunken husband. Through series of adoptions she was able to build up a family-like gathering of loyal apprentices. In Japanese, the term for this arrangement was gokenin or fictive relative. Rie was able to out maneuver a husband who was not only a philanderer but also committed several acts of treachery to her body and to her sake business. We can assume that Professor Lebrai also aware of the Japanese variations on the Western Harlequin novel. In the original version, the novels were about love and romance: unrequited lives that were finally resolved through commitments and soulful relationships. The Japanese "Harlequin" novels introduced a diffe

In Kobe when her two year old brother Toichi died because she failed to watch him closely, Rie is filled with guilt. A few weeks later, her father Kinzaemon IX informs the grieving Rie that she is the "future of the Omura House". Her interpretation of his simple statement defies societal beliefs. Instead of marrying the next sake brew master, as a woman entering a brewery sours the products, she decides she must save the House of Ohura. She detests her mother's adage that a female must always live for the male by "killing the self". Her parents arrange her marriage to Johei in order for them to produce the next heir. However, she realizes her husband is an incompetent womanizer who will destroy the House of Ohura if left in charge. Rie vows their product White Tiger will be number one sake in Japan, which means defying the demands of her womanizing spouse to raise his children (with a geisha) and by tradition he take charge of the House of Ohura. Over the years she proves a superior business person and her diverse ideas make the House of Ohura strong; her father gives the official brewery seal to her not Johei. This late nineteenth century Japanese tale focuses on the venerable sake brewing industry through four generations of a family. Rie is the link between her parents, her children and grandchildren as she holds the interesting story line together. What is fascinatingly is how she changes from warm and caring to cold and dominating towards family members. Only the sake eventually receives her warmth. Genre fans will appreciate this deep historical tale that provides insight into late nineteenth century Japanese culture and tradition through the eyes of someone who defies the norm. Harriet Klausner