Why Choose the Difficult Path, When There Is an Easier One?

Yamakawa Jozo was founded in 1943. In an age where speed and mass production are often seen as measures of success, Kanako Yamakawa speaks about choosing the slower path of kioke brewing; and the responsibility of carrying its rare craft and culture into the future.

What does Yamakawa Jozo stand for today?

Yamakawa Jozo was founded in 1943. In Gifu Prefecture, we have continued to make tamari shoyu using wooden fermentation barrels.

As soy sauce production in Japan became increasingly industrialized and mass-produced, we chose to continue using wooden barrels that have been in use for more than 100 years, brewing our tamari shoyu with only Japanese-grown soybeans and salt.

The tamari shoyu we make is produced primarily from soybeans, and is characterized by its rich umami and deep, full-bodied flavor. Because it is aged for longer than ordinary soy sauce, even a small amount can bring a deep richness and umami to a dish.

Tamari shoyu is a food culture that has been passed down for generations, particularly in Gifu and throughout the Tokai region of Japan.

What keeps you making it in the same way, even when there are easier ways to produce it?

There are customers who tell us:

“I’ve been using this tamari for more than 50 years. It has to be this one.”

It is words like these that have supported us.

They remind us that the flavor nurtured in this region is not simply a product. It is part of people's lives, memories and everyday meals.

That is why we continue to make it using the same methods that have been passed down to us.

Why does the wooden barrel matter so much?

For us, a wooden barrel is not simply an old-fashioned tool.

It is something essential to the flavor itself.

We became deeply convinced of this about 25 years ago.

At the time, we were concerned that it might become increasingly difficult to continue brewing in wooden barrels. So, we introduced plastic tanks and brewed tamari shoyu using exactly the same ingredients and the same methods as we always had.

The results of the analysis were almost identical to those of our usual tamari shoyu.

But when we tasted the finished product, it was completely different.

The flavor was different.

The aroma was different.

It was not the tamari we knew.

That experience made us certain that the tamari shoyu of Yamakawa Jozo is something that can only be created in a wooden barrel.

What happens inside a wooden barrel that cannot be replicated by a modern tank?

A wooden barrel can continue to be used for more than 100 years.

Over those long years, microorganisms unique to each brewery take up residence within the barrels, gradually creating a fermentation environment that belongs to that particular brewery.

Even when the same ingredients are used, the flavor changes when the brewery changes.

A wooden barrel is not simply a container.

It reflects the climate and natural environment of the place, as well as the work and lives of the people who have cared for the brewery.

It becomes the place where a flavor unique to that brewery is nurtured.

What does it mean to preserve a flavor for the next generation?

I want to create a flavor that can be passed from parent to child, and from child to grandchild.

I want to continue delivering, even decades from now, a soy sauce that belongs at the everyday dining table; one that makes people think:

“It has to be this flavor.”

The existence of these customers is what gives us the strength to continue making our soy sauce.

Is preserving the soy sauce enough?

No.

If we want to preserve this flavor for the future, we must also preserve the culture of wooden barrels itself.

Wooden-barrel culture cannot be preserved by a single brewery alone.

It takes the people who grow the trees.

The craftsmen who make the barrels.

The brewers who ferment the soy sauce.

The people who cook with it.

And the people who gather around the dining table and enjoy it.

This culture has been passed down through the hands of many people.

That is why we want to share its value with people around the world.

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What, ultimately, are you trying to carry into the future?

What we make is a flavor that can only be created in a wooden barrel.

With gratitude to all the customers who have supported us over the years, we will continue to carry this flavor; and the culture of wooden barrels; forward.

To the next generation.

And then, to the world.