Honda Kojiya Fresh Rice Koji (本多麹屋 こうじ)

The story behind it

This koji house sits in Hinai-cho, Odate City, Akita Prefecture, surrounded by mountains and rice fields. The koji is grown on locally harvested Akitakomachi rice.

Akita still has pickles made with koji. Sagohachi-zuke is 3 parts salt, 5 parts rice koji, 8 parts rice. The ratio itself became the name. Nata-zuke is daikon split with a hatchet and buried in a koji bed. Both appear on the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries list of regional dishes. Trace back the shio koji that became popular in the Heisei era and you arrive at sagohachi-zuke, or so people say.

People who brew miso at home, and people who make their own pickles, buy their koji from a koji house. Here you can still see the shape of the time when every village had one.

When you order, they email you about shipping, and a payment slip comes in the package.