Yuasa - SAVOR JAPAN

Shirasu-don, made with fresh whitebait

Yuasa Town catches fresh seafood such as horse mackerel, mackerel, and is proud of having the largest catch of shirasu (whitebait) in the whole country. There are many restaurants in town offering up whitebait dishes, and the shirasu-don, made of whitebait served in a bowl of white rice, with the finest soy sauce added on top, is a famous dish. In particular, what is rare is anything using fresh, raw whitebait, which fills your mouth with the aromas of the sea and has a beautiful taste you cannot experience anywhere else. It is a local delicacy.

Kinzanji miso

Yuasa Wakayama

Kinzanji miso is one of Wakayama Prefecture’s local foods. It is said it begun when a high priest in Yura called Kakushin (Hoto Kokushi) learned how to make kaisanji miso when training in Song era China, and brought this back to Japan, and is the forefather of soy sauce and miso. The naturally fermented side dish miso is made from soybeans, barley, and rice, and is soaked with eggplant, melon, shiso, ginger, and other ingredients. Served at the dinner table with white rice, cold porridge, or cucumbers etc., it is a familiar dish in homes in Yuasa Town.

Stay in old private houses

Yuasa Wakayama

In Yuasa’s important preservation district for groups of traditional buildings (historic district,) there are many old private residences dating from the late Edo period to the early Meiji period, and Yuasa Town is promoting projects which use these old, empty homes in Yuasa. You can experience staying in an old private residence at “Senzanan” etc. and other private accommodation facilities. Please experience this good old-fashioned hospitality which has been passed down to the present day.

Terraced fields of Tamura tangerines

Yuasa Wakayama

Wakayama Prefecture is one of the leading citrus kingdoms in Japan. Among them, those produced in the Tamura district of Yuasa Town, Arita County are called “Tamura Mikan” and are known as the highest quality oranges. The slopes of the mountain in this district are full of “Tamura Mikan” covering Yuasa Bay. The contrast between the blue of Yuasa Bay and the green and yellow of the oranges is a beautiful sight worth seeing.

Soy sauce soft cream

Yuasa Wakayama

Soy sauce soft cream is a unique kind of soft cream sold in Yuasa Town, which is known as the birthplace of soy sauce. Sold in the warehouse cafe next to Marushin Honke (Yuasa soy sauce,) founded in 1881, it is a soy sauce soft cream made with Yuasa soy sauce (fresh black bean soy sauce.) The taste of soy sauce remains firmly inside, so although it tastes strange, once you start eating it, you’ll become addicted to the flavor. This food is a Yuasa collaboration between local farms’ soft cream and soy sauce.

Yuasa’s soy sauce

Yuasa Wakayama

It is said that Yuasa’s soy sauce has been handed down from the Kamakura period (1185-1333) and came from their Kinzanji miso making process. In the Edo period, under the protection of the Kishu Domain, it flourished as Yuasa’s major industry. The breweries and warehouses which leave behind traces of that era remain in the historic district, where you can walk around. Also, at the “Yuasa Town Soy Sauce Museum,” you can learn about Yuasa’s soy sauce manufacturing process and history through easy-to-understand dioramas, panels, and images. When you visit us, please stop by.

An historic and quaint town

Yuasa Wakayama

Known as the “historic district,” in the only preservation district for groups of traditional buildings in Wakayama Prefecture, you can enjoy this quaint town lined with townhouses connected with the brewing industry and warehouses, which has flourished since long ago through making soy sauce and Kinzanji miso (a kind of soybean paste.) You can see the town’s low-ceilinged, two storied buildings called tsushi nikai (lofts), or various design features such as curtain panels, insect cage windows, lattice gratings, tiled roofs. Furthermore, it is a valuable preservation area where you can get to know about how people lived in the past, with small side streets called “shoji” or “shojikoji.”