YUASA, Wakayama -- Kadocho Co., a long-established soy sauce brewery in the town of Yuasa, Wakayama Prefecture, produces soy sauce in a traditional way.
One day in mid-May, a group of tourists visited the firm's Shokuningura soy sauce warehouse on a tour guided by employee Hiromi Honge, 68.
"Even if you think the water smells bad, try a taste, as Yuasa soy sauce adds a great taste," she sang during the tour.
A long time ago, soy sauce brewery workers in Yuasa used to sing this song when they mixed malt and salted water with a wooden paddle in a process called "kaiire" for producing soy sauce.
Kadocho was established in 1841, and its Shokuningura warehouse was built in 1866. Currently, the Shokuningura building exhibits old tools such as wooden buckets and paddles to mix unrefined soy sauce, and a soy sauce press that resembles a water wheel.
"What are the four ingredients to produce soy sauce?" Honge asked the visitors
The visitors who learned how to make soy sauce during the tour answered in unison, "Soybeans, wheat, salt and water."
"Soy sauce is a familiar food item, but there're so many things that I didn't know. This place shows us the atmosphere of a traditional method of producing food," said a 71-year-old homemaker from Itami, Hyogo Prefecture.
Derived from miso
The history of the production of soy sauce in Yuasa dates back to the Kamakura period (late 12th century to 1333).
In 1254, Zen monk Kakushin returned from Song dynasty China and taught people how to make miso. One day, someone took a lick of liquid squeezed out in the process of producing miso and found the taste appealing. From then on, soy sauce is said to have been developed through continuous efforts.
In the Edo period (1603-1867), the method of producing soy sauce was spread from Yuasa to the Boso Peninsula. In this manner, soy sauce became widely used among people in Edo (now Tokyo), which saw a rapid increase in its population at that time.
Soy sauce is produced by mixing steamed soybeans, toasted wheat, koji mold and saltwater. After the mixture is fermented, soy sauce is squeezed out and matured.
Yuasa soy sauce is characterized by the long duration of its fermentation and maturation.
Takeo Koizumi, a professor emeritus of zymology (the science of fermentation) at Tokyo University of Agriculture, said the duration of soy sauce fermentation and maturation is usually about six months. But Yuasa soy sauce ferments for 15 months, with some varieties taking more than two years.
"Protein is broken down in the long duration that produces abundant umami flavor molecules. This [process] produces a deep flavor in soy sauce," he said.
Promoting soy sauce overseas
Late in the Edo period, there were 92 soy sauce producers in Yuasa, but during and after the Meiji era (1868-1912), many of them had to give up their business due to the emergence of major soy sauce manufacturing companies. Currently, only a few soy sauce makers remain in the town.
However, there was good news for the town after Japanese cuisine was added to UNESCO'S Intangible Cultural Heritage list in December 2013.
In 2015, the number of tourists to the town exceeded 500,000, up 60 percent from 10 years earlier.
The town promoted Yuasa as the "birthplace of soy sauce," and started putting a great deal of effort into preserving its townscape, including traditional buildings centering on the soy sauce business.
In April last year, the Cultural Affairs Agency added the soy sauce production places, skills and historic sites in the town to the list of Japan Heritage as "Kisyu Yuasa: The birthplace of soy sauce production." The designation was welcome publicity for Yuasa soy sauce.
There also has been an increase in the number of visitors from overseas to the town.
Soy sauce manufacturing company Yuasa Soy Sauce Co. has also started providing tours at its factory.
"There were few foreign visitors in the past. Now, of about 100,000 visitors annually, nearly 10 percent are from foreign countries," said Masaji Miyamoto, 42, chief of the section that deals with foreign visitors and tourism of the firm. "There are many foreign visitors who want to deeply understand Japan."
Chris Chong, 52, a financial planner living in Malaysia, said he visits Yuasa every time he comes to Japan, after learning about soy sauce in Yuasa on the internet.
People in Malaysia also use soy sauce, but the flavor is very different from the one in Yuasa, Chong said. His mother is pleased with the soy sauce he buys as a souvenir, he said.
This time, he visited the town with some of his friends and enjoyed participating in kaiire.
Paul Gottuso, an information technology company employee from Texas, said he saw information about Yuasa in a guidebook, which sparked his interest in the town. He likes Japanese culture, and wanted to come to the birthplace of soy sauce.
The taste of Yuasa soy sauce, which has been created over many years, is spreading through the world.
Access
Kadocho is located about 15 minutes on foot and Yuasa Soy Sauce is about 10 minutes on foot from Yuasa Station on the JR Kisei Line. Kadocho's Shokuningura warehouse is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays, and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sundays. The factory tour of Yuasa Soy Sauce is from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Reservations are required. Both close for the year-end and New Year holidays. For details, call (0737) 62-2035 for Kadocho, and (0737) 62-2100 for Yuasa Soy Sauce.
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