A soy sauce brewery founded in 1923. The shop and works keep their original look, and the sauce is aged in wooden barrels in use since the founding. Mitose Shoyu is made by brewing a second batch with finished soy sauce in place of water and aging it for three years: a sweet sashimi soy sauce said to suit the white fish of the Seto Inland Sea. Its koikuchi, Mitose and dashi soy sauces are certified Iyo City brand products. This time I picked up a small bottle of Mitose Shoyu.
48 Kushi-ko, Futami-cho, Iyo, Ehime
Sources: iyokankou.jp iyocitypromotion.jp
This moment in the journey
Soy sauce loved for a hundred years
Walking through the lanes of the old townscape, I visited Uruki Shoyu, a long-established soy sauce maker in Shimonada. Past a curtain bearing the shop's crest, bottles sat packed in wooden crates, and the shelves were lined with soy sauce.
The fishing industry is flourishing in this town, and the brewery was founded in 1923 with the idea of creating soy sauce that goes well with fish dishes. I picked up a small bottle of Mitose Shoyu, brewed over three years: a sweet sashimi soy sauce, I was told, made for the white fish of the Seto Inland Sea.
A local taste loved for a hundred years. Outside, a brick chimney rose beyond the tiled roofs. I followed a lane between stone walls and walked toward the light at the end of a narrow, shaded alley.
Watch this scene on YouTube1:53
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Fisherman's rice in dashi
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Shimonada Station
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