Yamaroku Shoyu The Elixir of Time

Some sauces season a dish.
This one tells a story.

Deep, rich, and mellow
Saishikomi soy sauce, fortified and double-aged

Our signature sauce Tsuru-bishio is our ultimate pursuit of depth, richness, and smoothness.
The saishikomi method starts with fresh soy sauce aged 1-2 years, which is returned to the barrel, fortified with additional soybeans and wheat, and aged for another 2-3 years. Using additional ingredients, time, and nature’s power, the salt from the original aging process develops into incredible depth, aroma, and smoothness

Tsuru Bishio is Yamaroku’s most treasured expression, a soy sauce that has taken nearly half a decade to come of age in 150-year-old Japanese cedar barrels. Every drop carries the weight of patience, the wisdom of tradition, and the resonance of flavour you simply cannot industrially replicate.

It is not soy sauce.
It is heritage, distilled and bottled

Why Tsuru Bishio is Extraordinary

• Rare Aging Process: A masterful blend of two moromi batches; one matured for 4+ years; woven together to achieve depth, balance, and harmony that only time can deliver.

• 150-Year-Old Kioke Barrels: Fermented in cedar barrels that have been alive with microbial culture for over a century and a half. These barrels are never disinfected, only cared for, meaning each batch carries forward a lineage of living flavour.

• Natural, Unhurried Fermentation: No shortcuts, no additives, no preservatives. Just soybeans, wheat, water, and salt allowed to breathe and transform naturally through slow fermentation.

• Depth of Flavour: Rich, velvety umami with layers of sweetness, earthiness, and a lingering, almost wine-like complexity. Perfect as a finishing touch rather than just seasoning; elevates sushi, sashimi, red meat, broths, cheese, and even desserts.

• True Rarity: Tsuru Bishio is not mass-produced. It is crafted in limited quantities by Yasuo Yamamoto, the 5th generation custodian of Yamaroku Shoyu on Shodoshima Island, Japan. Bottles are scarce, sought after by chefs and collectors worldwide.

• A Living Tradition: Yamaroku is among the last remaining shoyu brewers still using kioke barrels; an artisanal practice UNESCO and Japanese culinary experts are striving to preserve. Owning a bottle is owning a piece of living cultural heritage.

Why Tsuru Bishio Stands Apart (and Above)

• Age and Patience: Nearly 5 years of slow fermentation vs weeks in industrial stainless-steel tanks.

• Living Barrels: 150-year-old cedar kioke with microbial ecosystems no modern factory could ever replicate.

• Purity: Only four natural ingredients, no artificial shortcuts.

• Craft Lineage: Produced by a 5th-generation family brewery on Shodoshima, Japan’s island of soy sauce.

• Limited Supply: Aged shoyu of this caliber is scarce even in Japan; in India, it is nearly unobtainable; until now.

• Taste Experience: Not simply salty; but deep, rounded, umami-laden, with a character closer to a fine aged wine or whisky.

Yamaroku, striving for authenticity