About Morita and Marukin
Morita Corporation is a food company that produces a variety of products, but mainly soy sauce, miso, sake and other traditional fermented foods in Japan. Their corporate philosophy is to create an attractive food culture.
Morita corporation began their business with sake brewing in 1665. In 1708, they started brewing miso and tamari soy sauce, which has a very long history.
They brew and ferment their soy sauce on the Chita Peninsula in Aichi prefecture (see above), but have sales and manufacturing bases throughout the country.
One of those bases is the Marukin soy sauce corporation located in Shodo Island.
Marukin soy sauce corporation has a factory in "Hishio no Sato" on Shodo Island. Adjacent to the factory is the Marukin soy sauce memorial hall, which used be a soy sauce factory. It boasts the largest Gassho style house (a house with a steep rafter roof) in Japan and it was designated as a nationally registered tangible cultural property in 1996. The moromi (fermenting mash) compressing factory adjacent to the Marukin Soy Sauce Memorial Hall is still in operation and you can observe the process of squeezing soy sauce with a large compressor from the terrace on the second floor.
Marukin soy sauce corporation was founded in 1907. It was established by eight major soy sauce breweries on Shodo Island (there were 164 shareholders at that time). The company was named after the crest design, which was a circle (Maru in Japanese) with the symbol for gold (Kin in Japanese) inside of it. This was the symbol of Kotohiragu shrine in Kagawa prefecture. This design is still used on the product packaging.
Vision / Passion / Specialty:
Morita corporation continues to make tamari soy sauce and soybean miso which originated in Aichi Prefecture. In addition, after collaborating with Marukin Soy Sauce, they added regular and light soy sauces to their lineup. At Marukin corporation, there are various types of long selling products such as "Shiboritate (freshly squeezed) Kijoyu (row soy sauce)," "Koikuchi (regular) Soy Sauce," "Usukuchi (light) Soy Sauce" and "Specially Selected Whole Bean Soy Sauce." They also have small sized products using a freshness retention bottles.
Tamari Soy Sauce
Morita's tamari soy sauce is created using carefully practiced (and strictly protected) techniques that have been passed down through generations for over 300 years in the Tokai region of Japan, which is the fountainhead of tamari soy sauce. Morita's tamari soy sauce exudes umami flavor veiled behind a hypnotically beautiful luster.