News of Article Publication_LIXIL eye JANUARY 2023 no.28
LIXIL eye”, an information magazine on architecture and urban development, features the work of Yamamo. Mr. Genta, a grandson of Seiichi Shirai, carefully guides visitors through the architectural complexes left behind by Seiichi Shirai. The article contains information that cannot be found even in books related to Seiichi Shirai. The interview team also visited our company and had a chance to talk with him, including the use of our restaurant, and exchange opinions with him often.
We have been in contact with Mr. Genta since 2010, and we have been working together with him on the tea house, garden, and other stately initiatives. I was deeply moved by the fact that the “Yugen-seki,” which is the basic information about the building and his work with Mr. Genta, will remain as the name of the building.
Many architectural works were born from the relationships with the “masters” that Seiichi Shirai came in contact with in Yuzawa, and they shaped the city. Their work has been handed down to future generations. We are delighted that our work has played a part in this and that we are able to stay close to the community throughout the ages. We will continue to pursue what only we can do, connecting industry and culture. Please take a look at our magazine._mediainfo._magazine
News of Article Publication_LIXIL eye JANUARY 2023 no.28
LIXIL eye”, an information magazine on architecture and urban development, features the work of Yamamo. Mr. Genta, a grandson of Seiichi Shirai, carefully guides visitors through the architectural complexes left behind by Seiichi Shirai. The article contains information that cannot be found even in books related to Seiichi Shirai. The interview team also visited our company and had a chance to talk with him, including the use of our restaurant, and exchange opinions with him often.
We have been in contact with Mr. Genta since 2010, and we have been working together with him on the tea house, garden, and other stately initiatives. I was deeply moved by the fact that the “Yugen-seki,” which is the basic information about the building and his work with Mr. Genta, will remain as the name of the building.
Many architectural works were born from the relationships with the “masters” that Seiichi Shirai came in contact with in Yuzawa, and they shaped the city. Their work has been handed down to future generations. We are delighted that our work has played a part in this and that we are able to stay close to the community throughout the ages. We will continue to pursue what only we can do, connecting industry and culture. Please take a look at our magazine._mediainfo._magazine
Traveling in the City of Architecture Yuzawa/Yokote
Seiichi Shirai’s attempts at vernacular architecture that spread from his relationships with people
Navigator|Genta Shirai
Seiichi Shirai, considered an unorthodox architect, designed many buildings in the Yuzawa and Yokote areas of southern Akita Prefecture from the late 1940s to the 1960s after World War II. Several of these buildings are still in use today. Yuzawa is also the site where the “Prototype Small House” that Shirai designed in Tokyo was relocated.
The work in Yuzawa and Yokote became the starting point for Shirai’s postwar work. But how was he able to obtain design work when he had no geographical ties to the area? We visited Shirai’s architectural works in this area, which still remain today, guided by Mr. Genta Shirai, grandson of Seiichi Shirai, architect, and Yuzawa City hometown support ambassador.
<Overview>
Shirai began working on public buildings in his later years, and few of the buildings he designed in his early years can actually be seen. However, in Yuzawa, there are buildings that remain in clusters, and some of them, like ryokan (Japanese-style inns), offer lodging. Why not take advantage of this and use it to revitalize Yuzawa? Mr. Yasushi Takahashi, the seventh-generation owner of Yamamo Miso Soy Sauce Brewery, will be a powerful ally for Mr. Genta. Mr. Takahashi studied architecture at university, and since taking over the family business, he has focused on creating new value for the traditional miso and soy sauce industry, while at the same time promoting community development in the Iwasaki district of Yuzawa City, where he is based.
Since his first visit to Yuzawa when the prototype small house was relocated, Mr. Genta has deepened his connection with the people of the area. My father, Hyosuke, has never brought me to Yuzawa, but I sometimes bring my son here. It’s not that I want him to do architecture in the future, but I wanted to show him something that was born out of my connections with people. My father once came here with my grandfather,” he says.
Shirai has created a number of architectural “objects” in Yuzawa and Yokote based on human connections. Mr. Genta is trying to create “things” in Yuzawa and Yokote based on human connections. In every generation, new movements are born from the connections among people, and Shirai’s legacy in Yuzawa is not limited to buildings alone. (Excerpts from the article)
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Genta Shirai
Born in Tokyo in 1973, Shirai graduated from the Department of Architecture, Faculty of Fine Arts, Tama Art University in 1997. After working for a design firm, he joined the Shirai Seiichi Architectural Institute in 2000. In addition to his work in architecture and interior design, he is also involved in the preservation and utilization of the work of his grandfather, architect Seiichi Shirai. Drawing cityscapes and architecture is his life’s work. He has written and edited several books, including “Shirai Seiichi’s Hands and Eyes” (Kajima Press) and “Shirai Seiichi, Talking about Architecture: Dialogue and Discussion” (Chuokoron Shinsha) He has served as a hometown support ambassador for Yuzawa City in Akita Prefecture since 2020.
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Yamamo Brewery
Design|Saiji Sato Renovation Design (Yugen-seki)|Genta Shirai / Shirai Seiichi Architectural Institute, Atelier No.5 Completed|1878 Renovation (Yugen-seki)|From 2021 124 Iwasaki, Yuzawa City
The grandiose storefront is surrounded by a redeveloped, circular garden “Senshitsuen” of approximately 3,000 square meters behind a black wall. The first generation began making miso and soy sauce in 1867. Yasushi Takahashi, the seventh generation head of the family, took over the business in 2007. At the same time, he made a major reform of the business in the belief that he wanted to make the business of miso and soy sauce making more attractive. He revamped the packaging and transformed part of his home into a café. He also started a hands-on dinner tour, where dishes made with his own yeast are served one by one in the café-restaurant, the Moromi-gura, and the “Yugen-seki,” a tea room designed by Genta Shirai and named after the calligraphy “Yugen” by Seiichi Shirai, as well as throughout the building. Mr. Takahashi’s challenge continues as he seeks to revitalize the Iwasaki area beyond the promotion of fermented food culture.
LIXIL Eye is an information magazine that explores lifestyle and culture through architecture and urban development, and provides a variety of feature articles that are useful for planning and designing architecture and urban development.
News of Article Publication_BRUTUS®_November Issue
The November issue of BRUTUS® features an article on Yamamo. Under the theme of “A delicious overnight trip that will change your life,” eight destinations from across Japan are featured in the article, “Visit the New Star of Fermentation, Innovation in the Northern Tohoku Region. Our new service is featured under the title “Visit the New Star of Fermentation, Innovating in the Northern Tohoku Region.
The “Dinner Tour,” which allows guests to experience the effects of Viamver®︎ yeast, the core of innovative fermentation, will feature 9 dishes and 9 pairings served in 5 different locations, including a Moromi warehouse with over 100 year old wooden barrels and a tea house associated with architect Chenichi Shirai. The event will be held at five different locations, including a Moromi warehouse with over 100-year-old wooden barrels and a tea house related to the architect Chenichi Shirai. By pairing not only the same yeast but also various architectural spaces, visitors will be able to experience the environment and background that led to the discovery of the special yeast, as well as the culture and climate that has been spun out through the interaction between the Takahashi family and cultural figures.
The article also touches on Chef Sato and researcher Mr. Kimura from the outside team, and captures the efforts that have been made with experts and on an evidence basis. Everyone on the team is delighted that what started as a simple café menu has become a full-fledged restaurant in three years. We hope that this media outlet will be an opportunity for you to experience the new world of fermentation._mediainfo._magazine
Visit to the New Star of Fermentation, an Innovator in the Northern Tohoku Region.
Yasushi Takahashi Born in Akita Prefecture in 1979. <He is the seventh generation of the Yamamo Brewery. In 2020, he discovered the yeast “Vianver” and presented it to the Japanese Society of Brewing Science. Obtained patent for microorganism.
A brewery that innovates the basic technology of traditional miso and soy sauce and produces dishes unimaginable from a traditional brewery. And a brewery that pioneers a new genre of sake in the world of sake, which is said to be impossible for newcomers to enter. From Yuzawa to Oga, a trip to visit innovative Akita breweries.
In Akita Prefecture, where miso, soy sauce, sake, and other fermented foods have long been popular, there are two people whose unique approaches are attracting attention in the food world. To meet these two new stars of publishing, we first visited the Yamamo Miso Soy Sauce Brewery in Yuzawa City.
The Iwasaki area of Yuzawa City has long been a popular area for miso and shoyu brewing, and Yasushi Takahashi, the seventh-generation owner of the brewery, has been putting his new ideas into practice one after another. The café-restaurant he has opened in the brewery serves dishes made with a special yeast discovered in the brewery and named “Viamver®. The yeast was analyzed with the help of a microbiologist specializing in microbiology and fermentation, and its characteristics were extracted from the food. We marinate meat and fish in Viamver® yeast solution to soften them, and season them with the flavor and salt necessary for the yeast to ferment,” says Takahashi.
Furthermore, research has shown that Viamver® produces more alcohol than other yeasts. This is surprising because it has been applied to sake brewing.
In the wine world, yeast such as Viamver® is considered a spoilage fungus and is frowned upon, but we have developed an original wine using Viamver®,” says Takahashi. This “Proslogion” wine made with Niagara grapes has no peculiarities and goes well with food. Thus, a single yeast full-pairing course was completed, using Viamver® for all dishes and wines.
1 Yamamo Brewery is a 10-minute drive from Yuzawa City. It has the appearance of a long-established business, but the interior has been stylishly renovated. 2 Yamamo’s mainstay products, including soy sauce, are displayed in the storefront store. The packaging may have been redesigned, but the taste is the same as it has always been. 3 Viamver® also gives lectures on yeast and fermentation. 4 “Viamver® Soy Sauce” (1,836 yen) and “Viamver® Vegetable Salt” (2,052 yen) have a stronger flavor than soy sauce. 5 “Proslogion,” an original wine made by fermenting Viamver®. This was used as the base for the pairing and arranged.
Finally, we were served the full course. Although the photos do not show all of the dishes, the dinner will be held at five different locations, using not only the regular restaurant space but also the entire warehouse space. It is designed as a culinary experience that allows visitors to enjoy the factory tour and dinner at the same time.
The dinner begins at the Moromi-Gura. In a space lined with wooden barrels that are more than 100 years old and bearing the target year and have a strong Moromi aroma, you will be served “Proslogion” wine along with finger foods. Next, we moved on to the “first storehouse”. After the second appetizer, we moved to the restaurant space, where three kinds of fresh seafood were served with doburoku. We used doburoku as a rice to make it look like sushi,” said Mr. Takahashi. The doburoku was made from the up-and-coming brewery Ina to Agave Brewery in Oga, which was to be visited the next day, and doburoku from Tonoya, an auberge in Tono City, Iwate Prefecture. Mr. Takahashi commissioned both of these unique brewers to brew doburoku with Viamver®, and it was a success. The product is scheduled to be commercialized in the near future. After the salad and main dish of fish, we were shown to a tea ceremony room called “Yugen-seki,” which was designed by an architect with close ties to Akita. The next stop was a tea room called “Yugen-seki,” named after the calligraphy “Yugen” by architect Seiichi Shirai, who has close ties to Akita Prefecture. The fact that the tea room was set up between the fish and meat entrees, where soup and tea were served, was quite unique. Then it was back to the restaurant for the meat main course. This lamb was again superb. It was juicy without any smell, and the two kinds of sauce made from fermented grapes and mandarin oranges added a complex sweet and sour flavor. The meal ends with dessert and dessert cocktails in the tatami room overlooking the garden. It was an intense experience for all five senses, not just the palate.
By working with a variety of people across barriers, including sake breweries, we can do innovative things.
Mr. Takahashi plans to purchase an old house near this site and turn it into an auberge. His innovation has not yet stopped.
Moromi-Gura The starter is a space filled with the aroma of Moromi. Finger food of pork marinated in Viamver® sommelier (marinade), served on a pie with grapes and blue cheese. The meat is soft and tender.
The first storehouse Gibier is also an elegant dish with improved meat quality. At the Hatsudai no Kura, Yamamo’s oldest restaurant. Mushrooms are served with pork, sweet potatoes, maitake mushrooms, and other ingredients. The meat has no odor and melts in the mouth, making it hard to believe it is venison.
Restaurant Fresh seafood and doburoku are used as a sushi appetizer. Octopus, bonito, and flatfish are served with a mixture of mizumoto and lime, mizumoto and red wine, and mizumoto and doburoku, respectively. The glass is a Gali-style chandigafu.
Restaurant Salad representing the Iwasaki area. The leafy vegetables are hydroponically grown using geothermal heat from Yuzawa City. Fermented sweetfish liver and tofu, spinach mousse and edible cricket powder are also available. A cup of fermented cherries and prothlogion.
Tea Room Tea and soup at the tea room to refresh the palate before the main course. A small amount of iburigakko was added to hojicha tea from in Shizuoka. The tea has a slight smoky flavor, and the addition of Viamver® salt gives it a dashi-like taste. The soup is Shadow Queen Vichyssoise.
Restaurant The main dish is the essence of Viamver®. The main meat dish is lamb from Shirakami, Akita Prefecture. The lamb is marinated in a yeast sommelier solution, so it is very tender and has none of the characteristic odor. The drink is “Nama-Hashiroshi,” a doburoku made by Toonoya.
Zashiki (tatami room) Finish off your meal with a dessert in the living room-like tatami room. Soy gelato and crème brûlée made with 20-year-aged miso. For the first time, dessert tastes like miso soy sauce. Served with Proslogion, which is arranged like a noble rot wine.
Yamamo Brewery Established in 1867. Products such as Amashio soy sauce, Ajijman (men-tsuyu), and low-temperature-aged miso “Yukikaze” are also popular. Lunch 11:00 – 15:00, Dinner 18:00 – 22:00 (reservation required). Cafe 10:00-17:00. Closed irregularly. Full-pairing dinner tour 33,000 yen.
An article about Yamamo is featured in NIHONMONO, a travel magazine that explores the ‘real things’ of ‘Japan’. Hidetoshi Nakata visited us and explained the benefits of Viamver®︎ yeast and the process that led to its discovery during the tour, and paired wines and food with the same yeast. We had a very interesting discussion about their views on the intended fermentation and the thoughts of the creators and how they communicate their values to the world.
Because of the yeast’s ability to work across technologies and genres, we continue to explore its potential in collaboration with other industries, such as winemaking. This is very rewarding, but it is not easy to communicate completely new products and values. The invisible bacteria and delicate flavours may sometimes have to be made easier to understand or from a different angle. Our conversation with Mr Nakata, who is also involved in efforts to communicate the value of sake to the world, made us think about this.
They have written an article about the efforts of the 7th generation so far. We hope you will take a look at it._mediainfo._magazine
In search of the future, the 7th generation head of the family chose the evolution of fermentation, ‘Yamamo Miso and Soy Sauce Brewing Company’
The Minase River flows through the southern part of Akita Prefecture, descends the Oyasu Gorge, enriches the Inaniwa Udon noodle village and joins the Naruse River in the town of Yuzawa. In 1867, Mosuke Takahashi, founder of the Yamamo Miso and Soy Sauce Brewing Company, began making miso and soy sauce near the Minase River. The beautiful water was essential for miso and soy sauce production, and the proximity of the river made it possible to transport the products by boat. After 150 years, the Yamamo Miso and Soy Sauce Brewing Company is now in the hands of the seventh generation of the family, Yasushi Takahashi. The name “Yasushi” is inscribed in his name, but Yasushi’s first choice was the path of change.
He had previously set his sights on a career in architecture, but at the age of 27 he returned to Akita to take over the family business. His decision to take over the business was driven by his love for the brewery, which had unknowingly taken up residence in his heart, and he thought that if someone else was going to take over the business, it should be him. However, the small brewery in Akita, in the north of Japan, was feeling a sense of entrapment. Tai felt that this was not good enough. He was not attracted to the miso and soy sauce business himself. He decided that he had no choice but to change things himself, and started working on the rebranding of the company on his own.
From the very beginning, it was abroad that he set his sights on. There was also a determination that I would be the one to take on the mission of communicating the proud traditional Japanese culture overseas. The soy sauce labels were changed to Japanese and English, an official website was created in foreign languages, and while retaining the good qualities of traditional industry, the design that emerged from the process looked 180 degrees different from what had been done before. No, to the casual observer, it only looked ‘different’. He clashes with old employees and finally with his parents. Tired and lost day after day, Yasu is still encouraged by the results of his work. In the second year of his involvement in overseas trade, he began doing business in Taiwan, and the following year he made a full-fledged foray overseas by actively exhibiting his products at overseas trade fairs. The brewery was also revamped into a completely different experience-oriented brewery by organising factory tours that include the garden of the Takahashi family mansion, which has been carefully passed down from generation to generation, as part of the tour. Furthermore, they opened the YAMAMO GARDEN CAFE, which connects courses with dishes made only with special yeast while enjoying the view of the garden.
Behind the café’s food offerings is the ‘experimental brewing’ that Tai-san has continued to carry out behind the scenes of innovation in traditional industries. Since taking over the company, Yasushi has conducted a number of experiments, such as actively using fungi used in industries other than miso and soy sauce, and adopting technological applications from other industries. These unprecedented experiments led to the discovery that the company’s own special brewer’s yeast fungus can produce large amounts of umami. Furthermore, many of the yeast strains used in miso brewing are said to be halophilic, meaning that they are active in a salty environment. However, this yeast fungus is not only halophilic, but can also live and work without salt and is a special fungus with the ability to produce nearly 6% alcohol. The yeast, which was discovered through 10 years of trial brewing, has been named Viamver® and will be presented at the Japanese Society of Brewing Science in 2020. In 2020, the yeast will be presented at the ‘Japanese Society of Brewing Science’ and a patent for both its production and manufacturing process has been applied for. Using this new yeast, the company has succeeded in converting it into a new fermented seasoning and in brewing natural wine with Viamver® yeast. It is now also capable of producing bread, butter and cheese. Furthermore, the company is challenging the possibilities of Viamver® yeast by brewing natural beer and doburoku using the same yeast.
The YAMAMO GARDEN CAFE offers full courses using Viamver® yeast not only in meat and fish dishes, but also in desserts and drinks. The company sees pairings and course meals using a single yeast as a new possibility for fermentation, and is working on this with a view to creating an auberge that invites people from home and abroad. Visitors can experience the history of the brewery through a tour of the atmospheric brewery. They can also learn about the evolution of fermented seasonings through cooking while admiring the beautiful garden. Yasushi believes that these experiences are the catalyst for the brewery to remain in people’s memories for a long time and become a much-loved brewery. This is probably because he believes that remaining in people’s memories is the essence of inheriting and passing on the thoughts of the predecessors who have spun them on for so long.
Yasushi adds new scenes to the traditional brewery one after another. He says he aims to revitalise the region by combining tradition, which demands that things remain unchanged, with innovation, which requires the creation of new things, and he hopes to weave a new tradition in the area where he was born and raised. We can’t wait to see what innovations he will continue to bring to the Yamamo Miso and Soy Sauce Brewing Company, and how far its products will go beyond the boundaries of traditional industry.