Hikikomi-ka

【English】

Flavour-in-the–mouth (literally, intaken smell”), retronasal aroma(s)

【Japanese】

引込み香

Take about 5ml of sake into the mouth, roll it over the entire tongue with the lips slightly open, and, by moving the liquid around the mouth at the same time as air is taken in, the aroma of the sake reaches the nasal cavity. This set of aromas is called hikikomi-ka  ( also ko-chu-ka (long “o”, long “u”, 口中香, literally “the aroma in the mouth”), and fukumi-ka (含み香)).

This aroma varies according to the length of time the sample is held in the mouth, but two-to-three seconds is held to be suitable. When the hikikomi-ka makes a similar impression to the uwadachi-ka, the sake in question is held to have well-balanced aromatics.