Wakayama: Soy Sauce Company Installs New Huge Wooden Barrels to Preserve Mellow Flavor

The Yomiuri Shimbun

17:04 JST, January 3, 2026

YUASA, Wakayama — A soy sauce manufacturer in Yuasa, Wakayama Prefecture, has installed two huge wooden barrels for making the condiment.

Yuasa Soy Sauce Ltd. installed two barrels, which are 5.5 meters tall with a diameter of 3.4 meters, and they are among the largest in the country. The company expects to increase production by about 4,000 liters per month.

The company is located in an area that has been called the origin of soy sauce.

Soy sauce production is said to have begun when a Zen monk who traveled to China in the 13th century brought back a method of making miso. The people of Yuasa then developed the method to make soy sauce.

According to the company, the town used to have more than 90 manufacturers, but the number decreased after the 20th century, and now only a few companies remain.

While stainless steel tanks are generally used to produce soy sauce, using wooden barrels — a traditional method of aging — is said to produce a more mellow flavor. However, the soy sauce made in wooden barrels only accounts for about 1% of total production.

Yuasa Soy Sauce, which was established in 2002 as an independent company from a long-established manufacturer founded in 1881, continues to produce soy sauce in wooden barrels.

The new barrels are expected to last about 100 to 150 years.

“We want to preserve the distinctive flavor that is achieved through making soy sauce in wooden barrels for generations to come,” said the company’s president, Toshio Shinko.