Fermented & preserved ── Fermented seasonings
Shodoshima shoyu
400 years of wooden-barrel brewing on Shodoshima
Soy sauce from Shodoshima in the Seto Inland Sea, whose brewing technique is said to have arrived from Yuasa in Kishu some 400 years ago. Mild climate and easy sea transport once supported some 400 breweries on the small island, and it still accounts for much of Japan's remaining wooden-barrel-aged soy sauce.
- Origin: Kagawa Shodoshima
- About 520 km west of Tokyo
Lineage
What it's made of
Wooden-barrel brewing gives it a layered, complex aroma and a rounded umami. Compared with steel-tank brewing, wooden barrels host a far more varied community of microbes, and each brewery's barrels are said to carry their own distinct character as a result.
How it's made
Soybean, wheat, and brine go into large wooden barrels and are left to ferment and age slowly for a year or more. Yeasts and lactic bacteria that live on in the wood itself, generation after generation, are said to be what gives wooden-barrel brewing its particular aroma.
Why it took this shape
The brewing technique is said to have arrived from Yuasa in Kishu (present-day Wakayama) around 400 years ago. A mild climate and easy sea transport once supported some 400 breweries on the small island at its peak; wooden-barrel brewing has since vanished from most other regions because of the labor it demands, but Shodoshima still accounts for much of what remains in Japan.
Before You Go
- Words about taste and cookingBroth types, spice levels, and noodle firmness — words you're often asked to choose when ordering.
- What to know if you have dietary restrictionsHow allergen labeling works, where fish-based dashi, pork, and alcohol turn up, and phrases for checking with staff.
- How Japanese seasoning tends to tasteWhy Japanese food can taste mild to some visitors, the role dashi and umami play as a flavor base, what soy sauce, miso, mirin, and vinegar each contribute, what "spicy" usually means, and adjusting flavor at the table.
Dishes in the same style
- Choshi shoyuOne of Kanto's leading soy sauce production areas, said to have been founded by merchants from Kishu in the early Edo period. The mild, humid climate — shaped by the meeting of the Kuroshio and Oyashio currents offshore — is said to suit the koji mold and yeast used in brewing, and the town's output helped feed Edo.
- Echigo misoA red, savory miso from Niigata, also called 'ukikoji miso' (floating-koji miso) because its polished whole-grain rice koji appears to float within the paste. Its style is said to vary across Niigata's Joetsu, Chuetsu, Kaetsu, and Sado districts, each shaped by local climate.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Uses
- Shoyu MameDried fava beans are roasted, then steeped in a soy sauce, sugar, and chili liquid. Unlike simmered beans, roasting first is said to give a crumbly bite when chewed — a preserved food built on fava beans grown as a second crop after Kagawa's rice.
- KakimazeBamboo shoot, dried shrimp, fried tofu, and other ingredients are simmered in soy sauce and folded into freshly cooked rice. A specialty of Shodoshima, an island long known for soy sauce production, traditionally served to large gatherings such as village meetings.
Also from Kagawa
- Aji no SanbaiAji (horse mackerel) is grilled until lightly charred, then steeped in a three-part vinegar dressing sharpened with chili and ginger. The vinegar is said to soften the bones enough to eat whole, and the dish has long served as a summer festival accompaniment to drinks around the Seto Inland Sea.
- Anmochi ZoniA New Year zoni made by simmering daikon, kintoki carrot, and a round rice cake filled with sweet red bean paste in dried-sardine broth, finished with white miso. Said to have begun as a once-a-year treat using sugar, once a costly commodity in the Edo period.
- Ebi Miso JiruSmall shell-on shrimp are pureed with rice rinse water, then simmered with white miso and tofu. Served as part of the roughly 300-year-old sacred sake festival at Uga Shrine in Toyonaka, Mitoyo, where it has long accompanied the shrine's home-brewed doburoku.
- Hage DangoFreshly milled new-wheat dumplings are coated in a simple red-bean paste. Traditionally made around Hangeshō, the early-July turning point when the rains break, as thanks for the season's farm work, and offered to household gods before the family eats.
- Ikanago shoyuA fish sauce fermented from sand lance and salt for six months or more, mainly produced in the Aji district of Takamatsu, Kagawa. It is said to have disappeared for a time before local volunteers revived production around 1998, and it is counted among Japan's three great fish sauces.
- ImotakoOctopus from the Seto Inland Sea and taro are simmered together in a simple seasoned broth. Once reserved for New Year and wedding feasts, it is said to have become an everyday side dish today.