The First Kioke Dojo

India's First Living Heritage Experience Dedicated to Japanese Kioke Shoyu

Kioke Dojo is a Living Heritage Experience an initiative by SpicedLore to preserve, celebrate and share extraordinary food traditions that are slowly disappearing from the modern world.

The inaugural event introduces India to one of Japan's rarest culinary traditions a 4-year wooden barrel aged Kioke Shoyu through an intimate series of experiential dinners hosted alongside the artisans who have dedicated their lives to preserving this centuries-old craft.

Rather than presenting soy sauce as a condiment, Kioke Dojo presented it as a story of craftsmanship, patience and culture.

What is Kioke Dojo?

Kioke Dojo is a series of Living Heritage Experiences where every chapter explores one remarkable tradition through the people who continue to protect it.

Each edition brings together:

• Artisans

• Chefs

• Exceptional ingredients

• Thoughtful hospitality

• Intimate dining

• Meaningful conversations

Every chapter revolves around a single living tradition.

The first one honours  Kioke Shoyu Japan's traditional wooden barrel fermented soy sauce.

The Theme of the First Chapter

4-Year Wooden Barrel Aged Kioke Shoyu

The first Kioke Dojo celebrates one extraordinary ingredient:

Yamaroku Tsuru Bishio

A naturally brewed 4-year aged Saishikomi Shoyu, fermented inside traditional cedar wooden barrels known as Kioke.

Unlike industrial soy sauce that is produced in stainless steel tanks over a few months, this soy sauce matures slowly over four years inside handcrafted wooden barrels that themselves are generations old.

Less than 1% of all Japanese soy sauce is still produced using traditional wooden barrels, making Kioke Shoyu one of Japan's rarest surviving fermentation traditions.

Why This Brewery?

Yamaroku Shoyu was chosen because it represents something much larger than exceptional flavour.

The brewery has become an international symbol of preserving traditional Japanese fermentation.

Its work has been recognized by organizations and publications including:

• Netflix (Salt Fat Acid Heat)

• BBC

• Wall Street Journal

• CNN

• Business Insider

• Japan Times

• Cool Japan

• Japan's Ministry of Agriculture

• Agency for Cultural Affairs

Recognition did not create the tradition.

It simply acknowledged a craft that nearly disappeared; and survived because a handful of people refused to let it vanish.

The Resident Guests

Every chapter of Kioke Dojo welcomes Resident Guests whose life's work has helped preserve extraordinary traditions.

For the Kioke Dojo, India welcomes two remarkable custodians from Japan.

Mr. Yasuo Yamamoto

President, Yamaroku Shoyu

Mr. Yamamoto is one of Japan's leading advocates for traditional Kioke fermentation and has played a central role in ensuring that wooden barrel soy sauce continues to survive for future generations.

His brewery produces the featured 4-year aged Tsuru Bishio Shoyu.

Chef Yoshifumi Tashima

Owner, Namida Tokyo

Chef Tashima will travel from Japan to create a menu that demonstrated how traditional Kioke Shoyu can elevate modern cuisine.

Together, brewer and chef offered guests something few people experience; the opportunity to understand an ingredient directly from the people who dedicate their lives to making it.

The Experience

Every seat at Kioke Dojo is intentionally limited.

Guests gathered around one table to explore a single ingredient through multiple courses, stories, demonstrations and conversations.

The evening was designed around one simple belief:

Some things can only be created by time.

Rather than explaining Kioke Shoyu through lectures, the dinners allowed guests to taste the progression of flavour while hearing directly from the brewer and chef behind the experience.

Venues & Dates

The first Kioke Dojo will be held across two cities in partnership with The Oberoi Hotels & Resorts.

Bengaluru

22 August

Wabi Sabi
The Oberoi Bengaluru

Mumbai

24 August

Fenix
The Oberoi Mumbai

Both evenings featured limited seating to preserve an intimate atmosphere where guests could interact directly with the Resident Guests.

Why Kioke Shoyu Matters

Kioke barrels are not simply containers.

They are living ecosystems.

Over decades, naturally occurring microorganisms inhabit the wood, contributing to flavours that cannot be replicated in stainless steel fermentation.

Many of these barrels are over a century old.

Many are handmade.

Very few coopers remain capable of building them.

When a Kioke brewery disappears, centuries of accumulated knowledge disappear with it.

Kioke Dojo exists to ensure these traditions continue to be experienced; not merely remembered.

More Than an Event

Every future chapter will focus on another extraordinary tradition worthy of preservation.

Each event will introduce new Resident Guests.

New ingredients.

New stories.

And new opportunities for people to experience living heritage through food.

Because Kioke Dojo believes that culture is best preserved when it is experienced together; not displayed behind glass.

Event Summary

A Note of Gratitude to Our Host

Every remarkable gathering needs a home.

For the first Kioke Dojo, that home was The Oberoi Group.

When an idea is built around preserving centuries-old craftsmanship, it deserves a setting that shares the same respect for detail, hospitality and timeless excellence. From the warmth of Wabi Sabi at The Oberoi Bengaluru to the elegance of Fenix at The Oberoi Mumbai, The Oberoi created an environment where Japanese brewers, chefs and guests could come together not simply for dinner, but for meaningful cultural exchange.

Kioke Dojo is deeply grateful to The Oberoi Group for embracing this vision and helping bring India's first Living Heritage Experience dedicated to Kioke Shoyu to life. Their partnership transformed an ambitious idea into an unforgettable beginning.