Soy sauce is an indispensable fermented seasoning for the Japanese. Recently, however, the number of soy sauce breweries engaged in its production has been declining. There is concern that the traditional industry is in decline. In the midst of this situation, Mr. Yoshinori Jo of Mitsuru Soy Sauce Brewery in Itoshima City, Fukuoka Prefecture, has taken up the challenge of reviving traditional breweries and making soy sauce with his own hands.

Determined to make soy sauce when he learned that they were not brewing their own soy sauce

While there are many soy sauce makers in Japan, few of them are engaged in the entire process of soy sauce production, from raw material processing to pressing, and most of them purchase soy sauce called “kiage shoyu,” which is made from unprocessed, unfiltered soy sauce, from soy sauce cooperatives or makers, and only heat and season it themselves. The soy sauce is then heated and seasoned only by the company itself. This is largely due to the “Law for the Promotion of Modernization of Small and Medium Enterprises” enacted in 1963. At that time, the government subsidized local cooperatives and manufacturers to efficiently produce products essential to daily life. While capital investment accelerated large-scale production, many small breweries stopped brewing their own products and shifted to purchasing from suppliers. Mitsuru Soy Sauce was one such brewery.

Having grown up with the aroma of soy sauce from an early age, Mr. Shiro naturally thought he would take over the family business. However, when he visited a large factory of a soy sauce cooperative as part of his work experience at an agricultural high school, he learned about the specific manufacturing process of soy sauce for the first time. I smelled the steamed soybeans, learned about koji and moromi, and thought, “Soy sauce is amazing. On the other hand, I felt sad that I didn’t have my own home brewery, and I wanted to make my own soy sauce someday! I wanted to make my own soy sauce someday! After graduating from high school, he went on to study brewing at Tokyo University of Agriculture. He began to study soy sauce making all over again.

While still a student! and went on an apprenticeship at soy sauce breweries all over the country.

However, Mitsuru Soy Sauce had been out of the brewing business for more than 30 years, so he was unable to learn from his family and there were no brewing facilities in the factory. Under these circumstances, Mr. Shiro, who was still a student, came up with the idea of traveling to breweries across the country to learn about soy sauce making.

I had a clear idea of what I wanted to do when I entered university, so I worked hard in my classroom, and during spring break, which coincided with the soy sauce brewing period, I asked my university professor for introductions and soy sauce breweries I met at department store events to let me study here for one week. I asked them to let me study here for a week, and they accepted me. Once I joined the family business, it would be very difficult to ask other manufacturers for training, so I decided to go as far as I could, thinking that I could only do this while I was still a student.

Thus, by the time he graduated, he had visited seven breweries and learned about soy sauce production at each. After graduation, he spent a year working at Okamoto Soy Sauce in Hiroshima, and before returning to Itoshima, he enrolled in a food coordinator training school in Tokyo to learn more about soy sauce production and its surroundings. After returning to Fukuoka, he began to steadily prepare for the revival of his business.

He started by repairing the vats that had been lying dormant and building a koji mold room.

Mr. Shiro returned to his parents’ home with a full of energy, but even though he wanted to use the knowledge and experience he had gained, the brewing environment at his factory was not yet ready, so his first challenge was to set up facilities.

With the help of craftsmen, he repaired the wooden vats that had been sitting in the warehouse and built a new room for making koji. We didn’t even have a kettle for steaming soybeans, so we really needed the help of various professionals. For the wooden vats, we asked craftsmen from Fujii Seikosho, the only vat manufacturer in Japan that can produce large wooden vats using traditional methods, to come to our house in Osaka. They repaired the ones that could be used, but only two of the five that remained were usable. We started with those two and gradually increased the number of vats. In this way, the vats, which had been lying dormant for some time, were brought back to life, and brewing began for the first time in about 40 years.

From the past to the present. Yeast Links Soy Sauce Craftsmanship from Predecessors

When Mr. Shiro was in college, he took yeast from a pillar in the warehouse that had been covered with mash that had been scattered from the vats when Mitsuru Soy Sauce was brewing its own soy sauce in the past, cultivated it, and froze it. This yeast was used in the first brewing of Mitsuru Soy Sauce, thus connecting the history of Mitsuru Soy Sauce. Perhaps this was a factor in the success of the soy sauce, but when Mitsuru Soy Sauce released its first dark soy sauce, “Namaari,” in February 2013, it received praise from all over Japan. The soy sauce was praised by people from all over Japan.

Many food-savvy people introduced us, including people at the brewery where I trained, and the editors-in-chief of cooking magazines and writers I met during my time in Tokyo. The reputation of the product spread by word of mouth, and it came to be used at famous sushi restaurants and French restaurants.

The reason why he chose the brand name “Namaire,” is because he wanted to keep it simple, “There is a lot of information on the packaging of soy sauce that is particular about soy sauce, such as ‘domestic soybeans’ and ‘made in wooden vats. I wanted to keep it simple. I wanted to keep it simple. I used local ingredients from Itoshima, handmade koji, and wooden vat brewing, which is a traditional production method, and I chose the word “raw” to express the pure impression.

The ingredients are made in Itoshima and Okinawan salt. Tackling the challenge of pesticide-free soy sauce and new types of soy sauce

Eleven years have passed since the first shipment. Today, the soy sauce produced by Mr. Shiro is loved by many people and restaurants, especially in his hometown Fukuoka and Tokyo. The ingredients are locally grown soybeans (fukuyutaka) and wheat (minami no kaori) from Itoshima, and the salt is shimasu from Okinawa. They sell dark, light, and re-finish soy sauces, as well as a pesticide-free dark soy sauce and a light-colored soy sauce called “orange. We had been trying to produce the pesticide-free soy sauce with the cooperation of local farmers since the beginning, but we had to stop production due to soil problems, etc. When we met with cooking expert Yoshiko Tatsumi, she blackmailed us, saying, “Why don’t you make it? She then asked me, “Why don’t you make it? I was given such an opportunity and started making it again with pesticide-free soybeans grown in Kyushu. Orange is a new soy sauce that we started to sell in 2023, and it is pressed before the moromi begins to ferment with lactic acid bacteria and yeast. We think you will enjoy the new flavor of soy sauce,” he says. When you actually lick the orange, you will find that the flavor is strong but the aroma of soy sauce is not strong, and the sweetness unique to koji spreads. It tastes like a new seasoning that is soy sauce but not soy sauce.

After I started making soy sauce, I understood why so many people are leaving the soy sauce business. Even if you prepare it the old-fashioned way, it’s tough from a business standpoint, and it takes a lot of time and effort. It is not an easy job. But I still want to stick to handmade, in-house brewing. I want to make use of everything that is produced during the soy sauce making process, such as selling the moromi and processing the strained lees into furikake, and I want to pursue new soy sauce possibilities, such as orange. Mr. Shiro hopes to continue to make soy sauce on the current scale without expanding to a larger scale. It seems certain that many people in the soy sauce industry, the culinary industry, and repeat customers will continue to pay close attention to what kind of soy sauce Mitsuru Soy Sauce will be releasing in the future.

The post Yoshinori Shiro of Mitsuru Soy Sauce Brewery revives in-house brewing by starting from scratch / Itoshima City, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan first appeared on NIHONMONO.

Aoki Sake Brewery, a sake brewery handed down in snow country

 Located in the southern part of Niigata Prefecture, the town of Shiozawa once prospered as a post town along the Mikuni Kaido Road connecting Edo and Echigo (present-day Niigata Prefecture). It is also known as one of the best rice-producing areas in Niigata Prefecture, where high quality rice can be obtained. When you visit this small mountain town, you will be greeted by a beautiful townscape with its quaint “gangi-zukuri” style, which is unique to the snow country. The scenery along the street, called “Shiozawa-juku Makino-dori,” has won the Urban Landscape Grand Prize and is highly regarded as a tourist attraction, attracting many tourists who come to take a look.

In one corner of the area, there is a sake brewery that has continued to make traditional sake since the Edo period. Aoki Shuzo brew s the nationally famous “Tsururei,” the brewery’s top-class “Bokushi,” and “Yukio,” a dry line of sake popular for its unique hairy creature label.

The Minamiuonuma area in southern Niigata Prefecture, where the Aoki Brewery is located, has long been known as one of the heaviest snowfall areas in Japan, with snow accumulating to over 2 meters even in urban areas. The book “Hokuetsu Setsuppu,” written in the mid-Edo period, describes the hardships and difficulties of people living in such a snowy region, their lifestyles, customs, and ways of utilizing the snow, and the wisdom of these people has been applied to the lives of people today. The author, Makiyuki Suzuki, is also an ancestor of the brewery, and it is said that he named the sake “Tsururei,” Aoki Shuzo’s signature sake. The brand name “Makino”, which is brewed for the annual National New Sake Competition, is also named after him.

The spirit of “Wago” is an important part of sake brewing

The Minamiuonuma area is known as a battleground for famous sake breweries, and Aoki Shuzo is the oldest sake brewery in the area. Founded in 1717, Aoki Sake Brewery has made the most of the benefits of the snow, from raw materials to brewing facilities, and has continued to brew sake while respecting the characteristics of the snow country and its relationship with the local community. The brewery is also committed to contributing to the local community by donating a portion of the proceeds from the sale of “Yukio” to mountain rescue teams, as well as other efforts to create beautiful towns.

Taking advantage of the snow to make sake that suits the palates of the locals

The taste of sake also clearly expresses the characteristics of this region. The sake is characterized by its “umakuchi” taste, which maximizes the natural flavor of the rice, and is light but not dry, as is typical of Niigata. Our goal is to make a sake that goes well with meals and can be drunk as a mealtime sake,” said Muneyoshi Higuchi, toji (master brewer) of the brewery. Aoki Shuzo’s sake, of which about 40% is still consumed locally, is made with the belief that it must be enjoyed by the local people.

Aoki Sake Brewery uses Koshitanrei rice grown in Niigata Prefecture, which is grown in clean, melted snow, and water from the subsoil of Makihata Mountain, one of the 100 most famous mountains in Japan. The soft water, which is soft and tasty, is widely enjoyed by the local people. The facilities are thoroughly sanitized to produce clean koji mold over a long period of time. They are also particular about the balance of acid accents and aroma. In addition, they took the opportunity of the 300th anniversary of the company’s founding to build a new snow cellar storage facility. The entire cellar is cooled year-round by the power of natural snow, and the entire cellar can now be kept at a nearly constant temperature. All sake produced at the Aoki Brewery is stored in this cold storage facility, which utilizes natural clean energy, and is shipped fresh.

Since all alcoholic beverages in Japan are exempted from the labeling of expiration dates, sake is also not required to display an expiration date, and most sake is labeled with only the date of manufacture. However, temperature control is essential to preserve the sake’s aroma and flavor. The temperature in the snow cellar is kept at a constant level of approximately 4°C. The area dedicated to long-term storage can maintain a temperature of -5°C year-round with the help of electricity. The ability to store sake for 5, 10, or even longer periods of time allows Aoki Sake Brewery to explore the possibility of producing long-aged sake and other products. Aoki says that since the sake can be stored for five, ten, or even more years, the brewery would like to explore the possibility of producing long-aged sake. Aoki Brewery is also taking on the challenge of new brewing possibilities by further evolving the wisdom it has developed over the region’s history of working with snow.

Sake brewing for the future

Aoki Sake Brewery has a long history of 300 years since the Edo period, and its traditions have been handed down from generation to generation. Higuchi says it is important to continue this tradition in the future. We will continue to brew sake diligently, carefully, and honestly. Polishing politeness and taking on the challenge of brewing sake in line with the times are the motto of the current Aoki Sake Brewery. The ideal of sake brewing in the snow country will surely be steadily passed on to the future.

The post Aoki Sake Brewery, a 300-year-old Echigo toji (master brewer) who has handed down the unique sake brewing tradition of the snow country / Minamiuonuma City, Niigata Prefecture first appeared on NIHONMONO.

With the globalization of food culture, the Japanese diet has undergone rapid changes. The annual per capita consumption of rice in Japan has continued to decline since 1962, finally reaching less than half of its peak in 2020. As the Japanese food culture has declined, sake, which has been enjoyed along with Japanese food, has also been on the decline, being pushed aside in favor of beer and wine. As the market shrinks, simply following the old style will lead to decline. Naotaka Miyasaka, president of the long-established brewery Miyasaka Brewery in Suwa City, Nagano Prefecture, and his son Katsuhiko, also struggling between tradition and respect, have begun a new challenge without giving in to adversity.

Miyasaka Brewery is located near Lake Suwa, the largest lake in Shinshu, and is widely known for its 360-year-old sake called “Masumi,” which is derived from “Masumi no Kagami,” a mirror used at Suwa-taisha Shrine, famous for the Omihashira Festival. The company boasts the largest production volume in Nagano Prefecture and is a nationally renowned sake brewer, but its journey has not been an easy one, according to Katsuhiko, the next head of the company.

History of Miyasaka Brewery

The original Miyasaka family was a vassal of the Suwa family, which ruled the region until the Warring States period. Tossed into the war between Takeda and Oda, they put down their swords and embarked on the sake brewing business. However, as times changed from the Meiji to the Taisho era, and the brewery’s business became difficult, the family switched to miso brewing. Instead, Masaru Miyasaka, the great-grandfather of Katsuhiko Miyasaka, was entrusted to take the helm of the sake brewing business.

Masaru Miyasaka, who was in his 20s at the time, focused on improving the quality of the sake he brewed, dreaming of one day creating the best sake in Japan with other toji of the same age. In 1943, Miyasaka Brewery finally won first place in the National Sake Competition. The company went on to win awards at other prestigious sake competitions, and Miyasaka Brewery, an obscure sake brewery in Shinshu, was thrust into the limelight.

The “No. 7 Yeast” that supported the brewery’s breakthrough

The reason for Masumi’s great leap forward was due in large part to the brewery’s proprietary yeast, “Shichi-go Yeast,” which was eventually recognized as a superior yeast.

Masumi, which repeatedly won top prizes, attracted the attention of many researchers, and as a result, Dr. Shoichi Yamada of the Ministry of Finance’s Brewery Research Institute, the highest authority at the time, visited the brewery to inspect it. This alone was an honor in itself, but after carefully inspecting every corner of the brewery, Dr. Yamada discovered a new type of yeast in the fermenting mash. This was Miyasaka Brewery’s brewery yeast, later named Shichi-go Yeast.

Yeast is a type of fungus used in the fermentation of sake. It is so important that it is said to have a greater influence on sake than rice, especially in the production of aroma components and acidity, which are related to flavor. At that time, there were still many sake breweries that used wild brewer’s yeast, but wild yeast was an unstable fungus that carried risks such as contaminating the brewery.

On the other hand, this No. 7 yeast has stronger fermentation power than conventional yeasts and can ferment even at low temperatures. It is characterized by a clear taste and a gorgeous orange-like aroma, and has less off-flavor that can be produced by high-temperature fermentation. The No. 7 yeast, which has brought a breath of fresh air to the sake industry, was brought back to Japan by Dr. Kikuchi and distributed as “Kyokai Yeast” to sake breweries throughout Japan. The widespread use of Shichi-go Yeast led to an improvement in the quality of the entire industry and contributed greatly to the production of safe and delicious sake. Even today, more than 70 years after its discovery, Shichi-go Yeast is said to be used in more than half of the nation’s sake breweries, and is still enjoyed by sake drinkers.

From Japan to the world. Sake brewing with a global perspective

Anticipating the coming of a new era, Miyasaka Brewery pushed ahead with its expansion into Tokyo. After graduating from Keio University and studying abroad at Gonzaga University in Washington State, the current president Naotaka joined the company in 1983, and began using his study abroad experience to expand overseas sales channels around 2000. In this way, Miyasaka Brewery has continued to produce sake that is in tune with the times, always reading the times and looking ahead to the future.

And now, in 2019. In the new era of the Heisei Era and the 2025 Era, Miyasaka and his son Miyasaka have undertaken a reform. It was a major shift in the brewery’s approach, a return to its roots, to use only the No. 7 yeast, which is synonymous with the brewery’s own yeast.

Switching to the No. 7 yeast yeast

Katsuhiko, who currently serves as the president’s office manager, worked in apparel at a famous Tokyo department store after graduating from university before leaving in 2013 to join the brewery.

However, the sake industry had already begun to diversify, and following trends was no longer the only “right” thing to do. Sake itself has stepped out of the traditional ring and established itself in the world as a “SAKE” along with wine and beer. Katsuhiko felt that in order to compete in this layer, it was necessary to further express his own individuality and attractiveness and “make sake that is different from others. He saw the value in specializing in a narrow field. In 2019, he launched a project to create a new line under the two themes of “individuality unique to Miyasaka Brewery” and “high quality food sake that enhances the flavor of food.

However, it was said that it was difficult to produce a gorgeous flavor with the No. 7 yeast. It took many prototypes and a considerable amount of time to achieve the desired flavor and aroma. Even after the taste was confirmed, it was not easy to unify all the sake brewed with the No. 7 yeast. Sometimes, they even used hints from sake breweries outside of the prefecture.

The four sake products that were released were named “Shinju-AKA,” “Urushukuro-KURO,” “Hakumyo-SHIRO,” and “KAYA. Miyasaka Brewery is proud to have created these sake products through a process of trial and error, so that they can be served with any dish at today’s varied dining tables.

Launched in 2019, this series is appealing for its beautiful water and cool breezy taste of the Suwa region. The rebranding of “Masumi” is an excellent realization of Katsuhiko’s vision of “sake that adds color to the daily dining table. The idea of returning to the basics and innovation was a unique expression of the appeal of the No. 7 yeast.

Miyasaka Brewery’s goal for “Masumi from now on

Miyasaka Brewery, which began to develop products specializing in No. 7 yeast with the aim of entering the global market, also changed its symbol mark to coincide with the rebranding. The company created a simple, sophisticated logo of “a single ivy leaf reflected in a water mirror” from kanji, a powerful and dignified image that is typical of Japanese sake.

Ivy is the family crest of the Miyasaka family. The ivy has been a symbol of prosperity since ancient times. The shape of the ivy leaves reflected in the water mirror and sake cup represents the harmony of the brewer’s philosophy of “harmony, brewing, and good sake,” as well as the circle of the brewery. The duality of tradition and innovation contained in the brand message of “connecting people, nature, and time,” the gentle and harmonious flavor of the No. 7 yeast, and the desire to promote sake culture around the world are all expressed in the symbol.

Incidentally, the symbol mark was chosen for the rebranding so that people overseas who cannot read Japanese will remember Miyasaka Brewery’s sake. We believe that a universally recognized symbol will serve as a bridge to spread Miyasaka Brewery’s sake throughout the world.

Katsuhiko also says that expanding overseas is not only a way to promote sake, but also “an opportunity to reevaluate the value and characteristics of sake and to reaffirm its recognition. For example, when approaching an overseas city where Miyasaka Brewery is barely known, the sake from their own brewery needs to be explained from scratch. Each time, he says, he has to verbalize and explain the brewery’s sake, which in turn deepens his own understanding of Masumi and, by extension, Japanese sake.

When they were looking at overseas expansion and seriously trying to compete on the same layer as the great sake breweries overseas, they strongly felt that inspection visits alone were not enough to gain the knowledge needed to do so. Interaction through business will lead to deeper exchanges and learning.

Compared to wine and beer, the sake industry was like an isolated country. On a global scale, wine has a circulation of 2 trillion yen, while sake still has only about 45 billion yen. The goal for sake in the future is to become a sake that can compete with wine in the global market. Katsuhiko says he hopes Miyasaka Brewery will be able to play a part in this goal. His eyes are already filled with a sense of self-awareness and dignity as the next head of the company.

The post Miyasaka Brewery, which aims to brew sake globally and share its appeal with the world / Suwa City, Nagano Prefecture first appeared on NIHONMONO.

soy sauce brewery on Shodo Island

Shodo Island is famous for soy sauce and olives. It is an interesting resort island with a Mediterranean ambience, mingled with the subtle sweet scent of soy sauce from the soy sauce breweries. Yamaroku Soy Sauce has maintained the traditional brewery with cedar barrels, wood pillars, soil pathways, and earth floors. The small-scale soy sauce brewery uses large cedar barrels that are over 150 years old. The essential bacteria for soy sauce brewing, such as lactic acid bacteria and yeast, have seeped through the barrels. At the brewery, even the barrels, pillars and walls serve as important components of the ecosystem for bacteria.

Reality of the food industry

Yamaroku Soy Sauce welcomes visitors because Yasuo Yamamoto, the fifth-generation head, thinks a producer and consumers should interact with each other.
He worked for a ”tsukudani” (preserved food made by boiling ingredients in soy sauce) manufacturer as a salesperson after graduating from university. He learned that buyers tended to negotiate the prices down even when a manufacturer provided excellent products. The food industry put importance on cost: inexpensive food with a long shelf life in attractive packaging is preferred, even if it uses additives and chemical seasonings.
Yasuo decided to succeed the family’s brewery, questioning the situation of the food industry.

Face-to-face communication between the seller and the buyer

Soy sauce brewing only generates small earnings despite the labor and cost. A single cedar barrel costs as much as 5,000,000 yen. He decided to make his brewery open to the public so people could see what they were all about. He felt consumers would be more inclined to buy their soy sauce if they understood how the soy sauce was made, and they got to taste and smell the soy sauce before purchasing.
He believes face to face communication can build a good relationship between the manufacturer and consumer. He told us that thinking about the customer’s expressions added to their motivation and seemed to even enhance the taste.

Brewery tour experience and soy sauce sweets well received

The soy sauce brewery tour is very popular. Visitors can take a break after the tour to enjoy snacks using the soy sauce at Yamaroku Chaya, located next to the brewery. Popular items are soy sauce pudding and ice cream topped with soy sauce, both of which have an unexpected yet pleasant mix of salty and sweet flavors.

Preservation of traditional methods

Yamaroku Soy Sauce newly introduced 12 wood barrels in 2009. Not many soy sauce breweries add new barrels. Their barrels are very robust and last for several generations because they use quality wood. There are only four artisans who can make cedar barrels in Japan. The brewery got new barrels partly because they wanted to preserve the traditional method of producing soy sauce using barrels.
People know little about soy sauce brewing although it is a very familiar seasoning that is used daily. You may discover something new about soy sauce here.

The post Yamaroku Soy Sauce – handmade soy sauce aged in barrels first appeared on NIHONMONO.