YAMATO SHOYU MISO

Yamato Shoyu Miso was founded in 1911 in Ohno-machi, Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, one of Japan’s five major centres of soy sauce production. 

Based in the heart of Kanazawa Ohno Port, the company remains one of Ishikawa Prefecture’s long-established traditional producers of renowned soy sauce, koji and miso, as well as the full range of traditional condiments made from these staples of Japanese cuisine. 

Koji culture is an integral part of Kanazawa’s local culture (Source: Yamato Shoyu Miso) 

To the south lie sacred Mount Hakusan and the Kaga Plain, to the north Lake Kahoku, and to the west the Sea of Japan. Ohno is an old port town with a history stretching back more than 1,280 years to the feudal era. 

Why does Yamato Shoyu Miso continue to brew its soy sauce right beside the Sea of Japan? First, because of the high-quality groundwater supplied by Mount Hakusan’s river system. 

Ohno, in the municipality of Kanazawa, lies at the edge of an alluvial fan formed by Mount Hakusan and the rivers flowing down from it. It has had a source of groundwater since ancient times. 

This abundant, pure water is used to make soy sauce. It is said that springs called ‘honnuki’ and ‘mokkuri’ once flowed along the old road. 

Kanazawa Ohno, a sacred place for fermented food culture. 

At the current site of Yamato Shoyu Miso’s headquarters and brewery stands a well dug by the company’s founder, Tomatsu Yamamoto. 

The groundwater drawn from this well is still used today to make miso, soy sauce, amazake (a sweet rice drink) and dashi (stock). 

This water, with its soft texture and moderate mineral content, is a precious legacy from the founder, helping fermentation and enhancing the quality of the products. 

Historically, Ohno’s soy sauce industry, known for ‘Ohno soy sauce’, has made the area one of Japan’s five major soy sauce-producing regions. 

During the Edo period, the Kaga domain actively encouraged soy sauce production. It flourished thanks to abundant groundwater from Mount Hakusan, one of Japan’s three most celebrated mountains, as well as wheat, soybeans and salt from Noto brought in by Kitamae ships. 

Kanazawa, the castle town of the Kaga domain, famed for its annual rice yield of one million koku (a unit of measure), gave rise to the splendid ‘Kaga cuisine’ through the traditions of samurai culture. 

Ohno soy sauce has continued to flourish and develop in keeping with this tradition. 

Yamato Shoyu Miso has inherited flavours shaped by Kanazawa’s climate and culture and shares them from this historic port town. 

Kanazawa Ohno: History and origins (Source: Yamato Shoyu Miso) 

The place name ‘Ōno’ dates back to the Nara period. 

The name ‘Ōno-gō’ is recorded in 730 (Tenpyō 2), at the height of the Nara period, during the reign of Emperor Shōmu. That was more than 1,280 years ago! 

Historical evidence also indicates that, during the Muromachi period, the area was called ‘Ōno-shō’ and belonged to a temple in Kyoto. 

From a culinary-history perspective, we also know that specialist producers of ‘koji mould’ existed during the Muromachi period. It is thought that this technique — using koji mould to make miso and sake — spread mainly through temples, which were centres of research comparable to today’s universities. 

At the time, miso was an exceptionally prized dish — refined and elegant — served to distinguished guests, such as nobles, visiting the temples. These accounts in ancient documents came to light through research by scholars who examined the buildings of Ohno Hiyoshi Shrine, which houses Ohno’s local tutelary deity, and historical records from its parent shrine, Hiyoshi Taisha, in Shiga Prefecture. 

During the Edo period, Ohno Hiyoshi Shrine enjoyed the patronage of the Maeda family, who ruled the Kaga domain, renowned for its annual rice yield of one million koku. Its growth was further fuelled by the devotion of the Kitamae-bune shipowners based in Ohno. 

A major annual festival is still held there every summer, on the fourth Sunday in July. Ohno has around 500 households. During the annual festival of Ohno Hiyoshi Shrine, a portable shrine procession visits each of the 500 homes. 

First comes the ‘Yakkosan’, a role assigned each year to young men in their twenties. Next comes the Sakaki Mikoshi, carried by 42-year-olds to ward off bad luck, as this age is traditionally considered unlucky. Even those working outside the prefecture return home for the occasion. 

They are followed by Shinto priests, shrine maidens, shrine representatives, the Gorojuro (dressed as samurai guards) and the baggage carriers (yakamochi). Next comes the main portable shrine, weighing around a tonne and gleaming gold, carried only once a year during the festival for the god Hiyoshi, associated with Hiyoshi Taisha in Ōmi. After that come the Sanno Akumabarai, a ritual to ward off evil performed by secondary-school students and listed as part of Kanazawa’s intangible cultural heritage, and an energetic lion dance performed by the young men’s association, whose members are aged 30 to 40. This brings the number of participants to around 300. During the day, children’s floats and drumming processions from each district join in, making it a grand procession of around 500 people in all. 

It is rare to find a festival involving just 500 households and 500 participants! Nor is it a showy event; it is a festival organised by local people, for local people, solely for the procession of the deity of Ohno Hiyoshi Shrine. 

While Kanazawa preserves samurai culture, the port town of Ohno is a community of fishers and soy sauce makers. In other words, it is a place where local culture has endured uninterrupted to this day. Ohno Hiyoshi Shrine celebrates its 1,285th anniversary this year. A town dating back to the feudal era, Ohno brings incredible energy to its summer festival! 

A system is in place to pass this heritage on to future generations, while the local culture is shared throughout the community.