Yamaroku Shoyu

To illustrate how rare these kioke (木桶) barrels are, at the point of 2012, there was only one last kioke maker in the entirety of Japan. That final kioke maker was also on the verge of retirement, meaning that this traditional method of making shoyu would be all but lost, once the remaining kioke barrels started to degrade over time.

Although each kioke could last for a 100 to 150 years, most of the kioke in use were from before the Second World War. Traditionally, new kioke were used in sake breweries first, before being recycled in shoyu (醤油, Shōyu, Soy Sauce) and miso (味噌) factories. However, with the lack of new nihonshu (日本酒, Japanese rice wine) breweries, and shoyu and miso factories shifting to plastic and steel barrels, this recycling process disappeared.

The long-time that the barrel-aging process took also meant that profits would be lower using this traditional method than with modern methods. Thus the 4th generation owner, Yamamoto Kenji (山本健司), advised his son not to inherit the family business. As such, Yamamoto Yasuo (山本康夫) worked in a local food company as a sales person, where he realized the challenges of the Japanese food industry. Buyers were always looking for the lowest prices possible, meaning that even with higher quality additive-free products, they were unlikely to outsell artificially produced products sold at a cheaper price. He decided that he didn’t want to stoop to the level of competing for the cheapest buck, instead looking to make products where buyers who were willing to pay for quality would seek him out. Thus, he decided to inherit the family business as he saw potential in the value of shoyu that was still brewed using the traditional barrel-aged method.

It was then Yamamoto Yasuo, now the 5th generation owner of Yamaroku Shoyu, who led the charge on preserving the kioke craft in 2012, with the establishment of the Kioke Craftsmen Revival Project (木桶職人復活プロジェクト, Kioke Shokunin Fukkatsu Projekuto). Despite having a near-monopoly of the barrel-aged shoyu market, he sought to find like-minded people who appreciated the value of barrel-aged shoyu and wanted to preserve the craft. Rather than forming competitors who fight over the 1% of market share, their goal was to cooperate together and increase the market share of barrel-aged shoyu from 1% to 2% and allow more people to enjoy the benefits.

To do so, they gathered food manufacturers, distributors, carpenters and chefs in Shodoshima every January to make new kioke tubs, and in turn increase the number of kioke as well as the number of people who can make these kioke across Japan. While the initial production of these barrels were done under the supervision of the final kioke craftsman in Japan, today, the project members have become self-sufficient to produce new kioke by themselves.