88. Ki Majime 100ml

The revival of wooden barrel brewing

In 2022, the first wooden barrel-brewed soy sauce in decades was pressed. Inoue Honten was founded in 1864. Since then, six generations have been making soy sauce, but for the past half century or so, they have been using open concrete tanks. These are aging containers that were introduced by many soy sauce manufacturers to mass-produce soy sauce through natural fermentation when the economy was growing throughout Japan.

Making food that tastes good to eat

However, the concrete tanks were reaching the end of their life. Naturally, large plastic or iron tanks were also an option, but President Yoshikawa decided to go back to wooden barrel brewing. This would mean less production and more maintenance work.

However, when their two sons, Shuhei and Ryo, returned home, they decided to "make things that they themselves would find delicious to eat," and decided on using wooden barrels as the containers for this purpose.

Wooden barrels from Shodoshima

The wooden barrels were taken over from Yamaroku Soy Sauce of Shodoshima and installed in the brick storehouse. Then, for the first time in the current generation, wooden barrel brewing began. "The method of making the koji that is the base of soy sauce hasn't changed, but the way the fermentation of the moromi ingredients progresses is different. And there was a particular difference in the aroma. The gentle, fragrant aroma made me incredibly happy."

The YouTube video is a must-see

The video above summarizes the events leading up to this point and the daily life of Inoue Honten. I particularly like the scene from around 6:40 where they serve pasta with mushrooms and olive oil for dinner. Please take a look!

Steady and earnest

Aged for a year using domestic soybeans and wheat. A beautiful dark soy sauce with a clear red-orange color. I had heard about the soy sauce from the preparation stage, and was looking forward to finding out what name it would be given to this soy sauce, which would be a big challenge. When I heard that they had decided on "Kimajime," it felt right. Working steadily and diligently on the obvious things. I felt it was a perfect fit for the attitude of the people at Inoue Honten and the flavor of this soy sauce.