Jump to main content
『広益国産考 』 / 国立国会図書館デジタルコレクション

Soy Sauce (Shoyu)

The spread of affordable dark soy sauce fostered Edo’s culture of diverse options for dining out, including such options as grills and soba noodle shops

Soy sauce (shoyu), also referred to as shitaji (foundation) or murasaki (“purple”), is one of Japan’s uniquely characteristic flavorings. Making soy sauce involves mixing steamed soybeans and roasted, crushed wheat with a starter culture to first make the soy sauce culture. To this culture brine is added, and the mixture left to brew. The moromi mash that results after about six months of fermentation and maturation is then pressed to obtain soy sauce. The resulting raw soy sauce is then heated to between 70 and 80 degrees Centigrade, sterilized, and seasoned with flavorings to make the final product.

Dark soy sauce, which accounts for about 90% of soy sauce production, is produced chiefly in Noda and Choshi, Chiba Prefecture. It is used for dipping, for seasoning foods, in stocks, and so on. Light soy sauce, more widely used in the Kansai region, is produced chiefly in Tatsuno, Hyogo Prefecture. With a somewhat higher salt content than even dark soy sauce but lower nitrogen content, it is good for giving dishes light coloration, but it is not suited to use for dipping or in stocks. Tamari is a type of soy sauce made almost exclusively with soy beans and is chiefly produced in Aichi and Gifu prefectures. Other than the brewed soy sauces described above, there are also soy sauces made through fermentation and maturation with an admixture of chemically made soy sauces, such as amino acid soy sauce, or by simply mixing two types of soy sauce together.

The brewing process used today was developed in the Muromachi period (1392–1507), but it was in the latter part of the Muromachi period that the term shoyu (soy sauce) first appeared in the literature. In the early Edo period, good-quality soy sauce was produced in places such as Kyoto, Sakai, Yuasa in Kii Province (now Wakayama Prefecture), and Tatsuno in Harima Province (now Hyogo Prefecture), and it was transported to Edo on Higaki cargo vessels. As Kanto-region soy sauce made in places like Noda and Choshi improved in quality in the late Edo period, however, the demand for soy sauce in Edo gradually came to be satisfied by cheaper local Kanto soy sauce (the dark variety). The spread of this affordable soy sauce is said to have been one of the factors that led to the blossoming of a bountiful culture of dining out in Edo, with grilled eel, soba noodle shops, and so on.

There are records stating that already in the Kanbun era (1661–1672), the Dutch East India Company was exporting soy sauce through Dejima to Europe. Also, the Swedish botanist Carl Peter Thunberg, who visited Japan in the late 18th century, recorded in his Resa uti Europa, Africa, Asia, förrättad åren 1770–1779 (Travels in Europe, Asia and Africa Made during the Years 1770–1779, published in Japan as Nihon kiko [Travels in Japan]) that Japanese soy sauce was of very good quality and was being sent to places like Batavia (now Jakarta), India, and Europe.

Related People, Things and Events

Books

Books about Soy Sauce

Books about Brewing

Related Works

醤油醸造所の写真

醤油用の容器

Videos

Institutions Holding Related Materials

  • 大正13年(1924)に兵庫県龍野(現在のたつの市)に建てられた木造2階建、銅板葺きの事務所建築。モザイクタイルの床、各室毎に天井を変えるなど意匠を凝らす。内部には事務所、会議室のほか、恒温室などの醤油の試験場もあった。旧龍野醤油同業組合醸造工場とともに国の登録有形文化財となっている。

  • 千葉県野田市のキッコーマン野田工場内にある博物館。工場見学もできる。

  • 千葉県銚子市のヒゲタしょうゆ銚子工場内にある史料館(資料館)。醸造用の道具・容器などが展示されている。工場見学もできる。

  • 香川県小豆島町にある醤油醸造所「ヤマロク醤油」のホームページ。約150年の歴史をもつという。

  • 『本の万華鏡』は国立国会図書館の蔵書を使用して、さまざまなテーマを紹介するサイト。第21回の「大豆」の中で、食文化としての醤油についても言及している。

  • しょうゆ製造業者の施設や品質管理についての審査確認、ラベルなどの表示方法の確認や指導、賞味期限や成分など分析を行うなど、しょうゆ業界から独立した立場からJAS認証や検査を実施している機関。

References

  1. 対外関係史総合年表編集委員会 編,吉川弘文館
  2. 加藤友康 [ほか]編,吉川弘文館
  3. 歴史学研究会 編,岩波書店