quality:corruption, linguistic:voice_change, stylistic:tone, information:highlighting, information:filtering
Tōji

Tōji (杜氏) is the job title of the sake brewer. There are various theories about the origin of the word, but the most popular is that it is a corruption of the word tōji (刀自), which was used for housewives and elderly women who supervised miko (shrine maidens). This is because sake brewing was the work of housewives at home and miko at Shinto shrines. It is a highly respected job in the Japanese society, with tōji being regarded like musicians or painters. The title of tōji was historically passed from father to son. Today new tōji are either veteran brewery workers or are trained at universities. While modern breweries with cooling tanks operate year-round, most old-fashioned sake breweries are seasonal, operating only in the cool winter months. During the summer and fall, most tōji work elsewhere, commonly on farms, only periodically returning to the brewery to supervise storage conditions or bottling operations.