Sagawa Kanro Shoyu (佐川醤油店 甘露しょうゆ)

The story behind it

In the Tenmei era, between 1781 and 1789, a brewer in Yanai named Denbei Takada presented a new shoyu (soy sauce) to Lord Kikkawa of the Iwakuni domain. The story goes that the lord took one taste and said, "Kanro, kanro," meaning sweet nectar. For the 240 years since, the saishikomi (brewed twice, with shoyu instead of brine) shoyu of this area has been called kanro shoyu.

Saishikomi means taking finished raw shoyu and adding koji (the fermentation culture Aspergillus oryzae) to it a second time in place of salt water, then fermenting it again. Ingredients and labor both run twice the usual. In return, the salt content comes in below koikuchi (the standard dark shoyu) while the savory compounds run far above it: low in salt, high in savoriness.

Sagawa Shoyuten, founded in 1830, still holds to this method, using spring water from the Kotoishi mountains drawn from 70m underground and cedar barrels of 30 koku. In Yanai, the town of white plaster walls, the brewery is open to the public as a museum and receives travelers.