Miso and Samurai

 Did you know that Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first shogun of the Edo government, was fond of Haccho miso from his birthplace, Okazaki? He even instructed his troops to carry dried miso balls so they could cook with them at their camps.

Welcome to Okazaki the city of Miso and welcome to the homeland of samurai!  Well, you might think, “What does miso have to do with samurai? “  I suppose you’re familiar with the word “samurai.” It’s the era of the Warring States period, roughly from the mid-15th century to the early 17th century. It’s the era of military conflict among feudal lords. Of all the samurai feudal lords who played important roles in our history, 60 to 70 percent came from this region, Central Japan. Among them, there are three outstanding samurai who played significant roles in our history. One is Nobunaga, the second is Hideyoshi, and the third is Ieyasu. They were all from Aichi prefecture.  Ieyasu was born in the castle of Okazaki as a future landlord of Okazaki castle. He won the decisive battle and finally, Ieyasu unified Japan and started the Edo governance, which eventually lasted about 260 years, creating a society rich in culture. He was the very first Shogun of the Edo governance.

Please imagine why we have so many outstanding samurai from this region. The answer is “miso.”  They were strong and healthy thanks to Hatcho miso made just soybeans and salt. Full of protein which make samurai warriors strong and healthy compared with others in different regions. It was common practice for them to carry some fermented miso with them to the battlefields. They made miso into small balls and carried them in a small bag or before leaving they soak stalks of potatoes into miso for weeks then dried them. They also wore them around their waits. On their battle camps they cook them using their helmets as a deep pan turned upside down! How interesting but sounds

quite true.  

The miso they carried was Hatcho Miso. Ieyasu, who was born in Okazaki Castle, especially loved this fermented food.  Isn’t it exciting to know how special Hatcho miso is. 

They still follow and keep a traditional way of producing Haccho miso in a wooden huge vats which contains various unharmuful bacteria which bring great umami.

Present Main Office building

Many life-size feagures show you a traditional way of placing soy beans coated with koji mold into a huge vat.