Marunaka Jozo Shoyu (丸中醸造醤油)

The story behind it

In Aisho, Shiga Prefecture, on the bank of the Echi River in the Koto plain, stands a shoyu (soy sauce) brewery built in the late Edo period. Marunaka Shoyu began brewing shoyu in the Kansei era, around 1800. Its brewery is called the 200-year brewery, and 4 of its buildings are Registered Tangible Cultural Properties of Japan.

The lead role here does not belong to a person. It belongs to the brewing microbes that have lived in the beams and barrels for 200 years. Marunaka Shoyu does no temperature control and no artificial heating at all, leaving the work entirely to the microbes. It is said to be the only brewery in the country still holding to this old method. Aging runs 3 years as standard. The only ingredients are Japanese soybeans, Japanese wheat, and natural sea salt.

The shoyu that comes out is koikuchi (the standard dark shoyu), yet it has no hard edge and is remarkably rounded. Chefs call it the supporting player that makes the star look good, and in that single drop is the time held by the brewery building itself.