Overview

Company Profile	34-1Azaiizuka, Iizuke, Iitagawa, Katagami-shi Google Map
Access	10 minute walk from JR Ugo-Iizuka Station
Factory Opening Hours	Except for New Year's and 8/13.　Open houses twice a day at 11:00, 14:00 (please inquire for details)
Contact Information	TEL: 018-877-2100 FAX: 018-877-2104 E-mail: info@kodamajozo.co.jp
Reservations	Phone: 10:00-16:00 Online: Online reservations cannot be verified on weekends and holidays. In urgent cases, please reserve by phone.

History

Kodama Brewing Co., Ltd.: a brewery that produces Akita’s representative miso, soy sauce, and refined sake. Our founder, Yonenosuke Kodama, began brewing soy sauce in 1879 (Meiji 12), and established the brewery in what is now Katagami City (prev. Iitagawa Town). In 1907 (Meiji 40), our business structure was reorganized to be that of a company, and we were established as Akita’s representative producer of soy sauce and miso.

In addition to brewing miso and soy sauce, in 1913 (Taisho 2) we started to brew sake, and sent out the “Taiheizan” sake brand—named after the most known and loved mountain in the region. In 1933 (Showa 8), we presented Japan’s first chilled sake, “Reiro-Taiheizan”, and for the next 9 consecutive years, it placed first among 5000 or so other sake brands exhibited at the Annual National Sake Competition. As a result, “Taiheizan” achieved national recognition, and became a well-known sake brand representative of Akita.

Recently, we have been increasing our efforts in the production of special designation sake (tokuteimeishoshu). As we are producing sake using rice cultivated by our neighborhood farmers, we hope local farmers are excited by and will prosper from the thought of selling sake from their hometown. As we have come to treasure our region, we here at Kodama Brewery embrace that sentiment when brewing our sake.

Product Features

<Production Process>
With an emphasis on refined sake and special designation sakes, such as ginjoshu, we dedicate our attention to the time and labor intensive “Akita Kimoto Sake Production Method”, Akita’s traditional sake production method. With our special motosuri (grinded steamed rice) machine, we thoroughly smash rice to achieve a paste, and set our preparation temperatures to an unconventionally high 13 degrees C (55 degrees F). This accelerates the nitrate reduction reactions, lactic acid fermentation, and sugar conversion process, yielding a reimagined kimoto production process that preserves these traditional mechanisms while reducing the need for labor, achieving completion in 22-25 days.

For our ginjo miso, which is an all-natural miso, the initial preparation takes place in the mid-winter. It then slowly ferments until the summer, and matures when it gets cold again, in the fall and winter. Once the weather gets warmer, in spring or summer, we dig it out. It is a year and a half long process that takes its time, and hands itself off to nature to work its magic during the fermentation process.

All of our soy sauce is brewed naturally. We fill cedar buckets, made with over 100 year old Akita cedar trees, with brine water and our house-made koji (made from defatted soybeans and smashed wheat through roasting). A roughly year and a half long　fermentation and maturation process is needed in order to make soy sauce that suits Akita’s climate and cooking. Some even need three years to mature. The cedar buckets used in the process are made from the heartwood of Akita cedar, with 1 sun 2 bu (~around 3.5 cm) thick rims and 4 to 5 sun thick (~12-15 cm) bottoms. Due to there no longer being cedar trees large enough to make these buckets, they are no longer newly made.

<Products>
Refined sake
Junmaidaiginjo Tenko 20, Junmaidaiginjo Tenko, Junmaidaiginjo Tenko 50 (3 series of Tenko)

Shochu
Premium Shochu Sankichi Gin, Long-Term Fermentation Sankichi, Sankichi 25%

Miso
Hakuju Miso Prepared with Traditional Yeast,  Koji Miso,  Original Akita Miso,  Light-Salty Miso,  Bonten Miso Fermented during the Mid-Winter

Soy sauce
Soy-Sauce Fermented in Cedar Cask for Three Years,  Yamakyu Full-Bodied Soy Sauce with Golden Label with Long-Term Fermentation, Kelp-Flavored Soy-Sauce with Golden Label

Highlight

◆ Lined-up brick warehouses, retaining their original historical appearances, are certainly a sight to see. Brewery tours for refined sake, miso, and soy sauce are available. (Free of charge, approx. 30 min.)
Regularly scheduled tours are offered twice a day at 11:00 and 14:00.

◆Locally-born photographer, Ikuo Nakamura and others are featured at the photo gallery in Blue Hall, which opened in 2009 and was a former brewing house. Blue Hall also hosts a wide range of cultural events, such as presentations by emerging artists in various fields, and concerts.
Business Hours: 10:00～16:30 (admission closes at 16:00.)
・Admission Fee:  300 yen (adults),  100 yen (secondary and high schoolers), Free(primary schoolers and under)

◆ A shop featuring many of our items also offers sake samplers. Ice cream made with yeast originated in Akita, “amekoji”, is also available.