What you can experience in this tour

The experience begins by crushing the boiled soybeans to your desired coarseness.

The soybeans are mixed with koji, salt, and cooking liquid.

Squeeze out the air and pack evenly into the container.

You can take home the miso you make during the experience (the finished product will be about 1kg). After fermenting it at home, you can use it in cooking.

🌸From March 20th, 2026, during the Flower Festival, the takeaway miso will have a special label designed for the Flower Festival. We will also be serving "Sakura Flower Tea."

✿Please also watch the experience report video↓

Tradition and nature intertwine in the original landscape of soy sauce production

About 30 minutes by car from Hamamatsu Station, Meijiya Soy Sauce continues to produce soy sauce with care in a traditional wooden storehouse.

A black-wood fenced building appears at the end of a narrow alley. As you pass through the sliding door, the scent of cedar and the sweet aroma of koji gently tickles your nose. The pillars, beams, and well-used tools all stand there, giving the impression that a long time has passed quietly.

It's somehow nostalgic, yet new. Even as times change, the passion for cherishing handiwork and cultivating soy sauce together with the nature of Hamamatsu still lives on in this place.

Over 100 years with the community

Meijiya Soy Sauce was founded in 1875. The first generation, Mankichi, established the company, and the third generation, Satohira, overcame the chaotic post-war period to produce products such as Takamine Sauce and Yamaman Soy Sauce.

A major feature of Meijiya Soy Sauce's soy sauce production is that they are committed to "natural fermentation," where they prepare the "moromi" (soy mash) by hand and let it mature slowly over a period of one and a half to three years.

By relying on the power of nature and taking our time, we bring out the flavor and aroma of the ingredients.

"Of the 20-odd soy sauce breweries in Shizuoka Prefecture, only about 7 or 8 still make their own mash. It's a lot of work and produces waste, so it's tough, but for generations our family has been committed to making it by hand," says Nozue, the sixth generation soy sauce brewer.

Soybeans and wheat grown with our own hands

Another thing they are particular about is that they grow their own soybeans and wheat, which are their raw materials. In fact, they had been cultivating their own ingredients until about 60 years ago, when the fourth-generation owner, Masanari, restarted the business in 1993 by establishing the Masanari Natural Farm.

We have established a style of doing all the processes ourselves, from preparing the ingredients to making the soy sauce, in our fields, which are free of pesticides and chemical fertilizers.

Currently, the number of fields has increased to five, and the sixth generation's younger brother is in charge of cultivation. Three goats help with weeding, and battles of wits with pigeons are a daily occurrence. This family-run business, from the fields to the soy sauce brewery, is now a rare sight nationwide.

Guide introduction

Meijiya Soy Sauce Co., Ltd. 6th Generation Owner, Shohei Nozue

After graduating from university, he took a different path, working in the food and beverage industry, but after retiring he returned home and, at his father's urging, visited the brewery, which led him to enter the world of traditional soy sauce making. Now, as the sixth generation owner, he is committed to preserving the long-standing manufacturing methods while working to create safe and secure products that support delicious taste, and to communicating the appeal of the brewery to the local community and future generations. He is committed to creating an open brewery, planning tours of the brewery and hands-on workshops such as "Learn a little more! Soy sauce pressing and miso making experience."