Yamaroku Shoyu (Yamaroku Soy Sauce)

Many people assume that soy sauce can be quickly produced in a factory. But actually, it is a seasoning made through fermentation and aging, much like wine and whiskey. Steamed soybeans and roasted wheat are used to make soy sauce koji, after which salt and water are added and the mixture left to age. While many major soy sauce manufacturers use modern stainless-steel tanks, some breweries still use wooden barrels and employ a more time-consuming traditional method.

Yamaroku Shoyu, which is located on Shodoshima Island in the Seto Inland Sea, is one such brewery that still continues the tradition of making soy sauce using wooden barrels. This method takes more time, but allows the brewery to sustain its unique flavor, which stems from the microorganisms that live in the brewery and its wooden barrels. These precious microbes cannot be bought with money. Many people abroad have heard of Yamaroku Shoyu thanks to coverage in media outlets such as CNN, BBC, Netflix, The Wall Street Journal, Business Insider, and Nas Daily.

The brewery is headed by Yasuo Yamamoto, the fifth generation of his family to run the business. (Although there are no accurate historical records, family tradition says that his grandmother’s grandfather also made soy sauce.) The brewery’s signature Tsuru-bishio product is a saishikomi soy sauce that takes approximately four years to make. A saishikomi soy sauce is made by using soy sauce that has been aged for two years, then aging it again for another two years using new soy sauce koji. This creates soy sauce that has depth, aroma, and smoothness, without any saltiness. Some customers even travel to the brewery from overseas to purchase this soy sauce.

Yamamoto also makes wooden barrels. Many of those used in the brewery are at least 100 years old, with some close to the 150-year lifetime of such barrels. In 2009, there were only three craftsmen in Japan who could make wooden barrels. Facing the possibility that such craftsmen might disappear, Yamamoto became an apprentice to a wooden barrel craftsman so that he could make them himself. Now, he reaches out to breweries across Japan that make soy sauce in wooden barrels, and hosts a wooden barrel-making event each January.

The brewery is open to visitors without reservation. Staff will tell you all about the brewery and how its soy sauce is made. In one corner of the grounds is Yamaroku Chaya, a teahouse space where you can enjoy soy sauce desserts.

Yamaroku Shoyu has local importers in North America, Europe, and Asia (details on the brewery’s website), which can be contacted to find local soy sauce retailers. When contacting Yamaroku Shoyu itself, please do so by email.

We strongly recommend trying this authentic soy sauce brewed using traditional wooden barrels.