Ishimago Honten ”Akita miso”

”Kura” Designated as Cultural Property

As soon as you step into the ”kura”, you will notice its beauty. The 6 ”kura” are designated Tangible Cultural Property by the Agency for Cultural Affairs. The historic buildings stand grandly with dignity. Ishimago Honten, a ”miso” and ”shoyu” ”kura”, founded in 1855, 160 years ago. It is a brewery that has history, with the Satake family presenting soy sauce to the Imperial family. They make ”miso” and soy sauce seasonally. When we visited, they were in the midst of preparing soy sauce. We were invited inside and were surprised that there were hardly any machines on the premises.

Food items created by the people

Ishimago Honten makes their products by hand. This is strictly adhered to, and even the heater inside the ”kura” was a charcoal stove, with people adjusting the temperature. Soy sauce is also strictly prepared by hand. Steamed soy beans, crushed flour and seed malt were being mixed by hand. While they are being mixed together, careful attention is paid to how it looks and feels. This is also vital during the fermenting process. ”We keep the room warm by burning charcoal and straw, but the temperature adjustment is extremely difficult.” President, Yuko Ishikawa explains. The room temperature is checked every hour. Even where the ”futa” or ”koji” container is placed will affect the temperature, so we move the containers around as well. All the tasks were strictly controlled by human senses.

A mild gentle taste

”Miso” making starts in January. Like soy sauce, the process involves many people. We had the chance to taste the freshly made ”miso” and soy sauce. A mild gentle taste spreads in the mouth. The miso especially tasted like sweet soft Akita rice. I especially recommend the ”tamarimiso”. Ishikawa commented ”There are many uses. It can be used for cooking ginger pork. Or you can add a drop of it in soy milk.” Of course, it goes well with the Akita specialty Inaniwa udon. Soy sauce and ”miso” are essential to Japanese cuisine. They are made slowly with the utmost care. We were able to rediscover the splendor of Japanese food.

ACCESS

Ishimago Honten: 162 Iwasaki Iwasaki Yuzawa-City Akita 012-0801; URL http://ishimago.main.jp/