Miso

Home of bean miso—
Beloved by historic shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu

Miso is a national food of Japan, beloved for over 1,000 years. This pride of Japan was possible thanks to different climates and historical backgrounds from region to region, which resulted in a variety of different misos.
Bean miso has a much darker color and robust flavor and is an essential part of Aichi Prefecture's cuisine, found in miso cutlet and udon noodle and miso stew. Traditional bean miso is comprised of four simple ingredients: beans, salt, water, and koji mold. With a longer fermentation period, it offers unparalleled condensed umami. Its dark color gives the impression of a salt assault on your tastebuds, but in actuality, it contains low amounts of sodium. Different from other misos, you can simmer it for long periods without any changes in aroma, and it mitigates any unpleasant odors from fish and meat. You can enjoy the refreshing tastes it offers with fried foods due to oil's emulsification properties in addition to a number of other incredible effects bean miso brings to the table.

Aichi-born unifier of Japan Tokugawa Ieyasu is said to have been an avid fan of bean miso. During the Warring States period (circa 1467–1573) when the three legendary generals Tokugawa Ieyasu, Oda Nobunaga, and Toyotomi Hideyoshi commanded their forces in historic battles, miso was treasured for the nutritional bounty it offered soldiers. Bean miso provides an incredible protein punch thanks to beans as the main ingredient and reduces fatigue thanks to the citric acid it contains. The renowned strength and ferocity of Aichi's ancient warriors may be due in part to the miracle that is bean miso.
Aichi also offers the gentle flavors of rice miso, made from rice koji and soybeans, as well as sweeter saikyo miso, among others.

Off to Kakukyu Hatcho Miso Village:
Miso fermented for two years
in stone laden vats nearly two meters tall and wide

Approximately 870 meters west of Tokugawa Ieyasu's birthplace at Okazaki Castle is Hatcho Town, Okazaki City. Kakukyu has produced miso here the traditional way since the early Edo period. Two buildings, Kakukyu and Maruya, stand on the property and their miso is said to be the origin of Hatcho Miso, one of Aichi's famous bean misos. We went to find out how this rich miso and major leg holding up Aichi's cuisine is born and how it became so popular at Kakukyu.

Touring the miso theme park Hatcho Miso Village

Kakukyu runs Hatcho Miso Village, a miso factory, history museum, store, and restaurant—basically a miso theme park! We applied at the store for one of the tours available every other hour (or 30 minutes on weekends and national holidays).
And we're off with the tour beginning at the history museum. The inside of the factory is Aichi Prefecture's first national tangible cultural property and showcases the process of miso production, the company's oldest giant vat, and priceless historical artifacts. We also got explanations on giant miso balls, how the defeated army at the Battle of Okehazama during the Warring States period went on to produce miso, and other interesting anecdotes.
Plus, looking at a map, you can see how integral a spot this was during the Edo period (1603–1868) as a confluence between the Yahagi River and Tokaido Road. Not only was it easy to procure raw ingredients but so many people passed through and became familiar with the fermented paste, which is why Hatcho Miso became such a popular item of the area Okazaki Castle.

The head office's building too is a national tangible cultural property and available to view from the outside

Recreations of old miso production scenes
Kakukyu's oldest nearly two-meter-tall-and-wide vat, made in 1839

Stones piled on the giant vats—definitely worth a look!

The best part of the tour was the aging storehouse where conical piles of stones press down on enormous wooden vats in an unforgettable scene. Apparently, this method of piling the stones is characteristic of Hatcho Town's miso. The area is sandwiched by two rivers and experiences both high temperatures and humidity, and so a great number of stones were carried from the river and put on top of the covered vats, reducing the moisture getting to the miso as much as possible and thus improving its preservability.
Kakukyu's Hatcho Miso is made up of two ingredients only: soybeans and salt. The mixture sits in the wooden vats for more than two years before naturally fermenting and maturing. And since the finished miso has so little moisture, it becomes hard and requires packing done by hand rather than a machine squirting it into a package. All this and more can be seen as you take the factory tour.

Piling the rocks is only possible by seasoned veteran craftsmen
Miso is left to age for two years without any temperature adjustment

Grab some of this robust miso, indispensable to Nagoya cuisine, as a souvenir

What would the factory tour be without tasting the actual product? Not as great. But Kakukyu has you covered with tastings of miso soup and dengaku—skewered tofu slathered in miso sauce. And at the end, it's time to buy any of the misos that strike your fancy at the shop. All sorts of original misos line the shelves, from the most popular Hatcho Miso to sauce for miso cutlet, sweet and salty miso fried dough snacks, and more. There's even Hatcho Miso Village's famous miso soft serve ice cream available for takeout. You may find yourself becoming addicted to the rich, creamy flavor reminiscent of salted caramel.
There are other tours than the one we described as well as panel displays illustrating Aichi's brewing culture in Gensen Hall and a cafeteria serving light meals on the premises. Come to Kakukyu and dive into the miso's mystique.