We introduce about our company - profile, history, message, origin, to "Josan Oke" tank.
Company Profile
| Founded | 1772 |
| Capital | 390 million yen |
| Employees | 600 |
| President | Koichiro Nakamura |
| Headquarters | 1-11-6 Shinoto, Atsuta-ku, Nagoya-shi, AICHI |
| Business | Manufacture and sale of miso, instant miso soup, soy sauce, tamari soy sauce, tsuyu sauce, soybean processed foods, rice-related foods, side dishes, etc. |
| Offices | Tokyo, Utsunomiya (Tochigi Prefecture), Nagoya (Aichi Prefecture), Kanazawa (Ishikawa Prefecture), Hiroshima, Osaka, Fukuoka, Shizuoka, Sapporo (Hokkaido Prefecture) |
The History of Ichibiki
| 1772 | Began brewing operations for miso and tamari soy sauce in Toyohashi |
| 1911 | Established a factory at Goyu in Toyokawa City (now Factory 1) and completed the “Josan Oke”tank, Japan’s leading miso preparation tank |
| 1914 | Established a factory at Takayokosuka in Tokai City (now Factory 2) |
| 1919 | Established a factory in Toyohashi (now Factory 3) |
| 1963 | Became a JAS-certified factory for soy sauce |
| 1985 | Established a new factory for food products at Factory 2 |
| 2000 | Acquired ISO9001 certification for the entire Ichibiki Group |
| 2001 | Established a new factory for tsuyu sauce at Factory 2 |
| 2009 | Acquired Kaneka Foods Corporation as a subsidiary |
| 2012 | Acquired ISO22000 certification for all Ichibiki factories |
| 2016 | Established Ichibiki farm |
| 2018 | Acquired FSSC22000 certification for all Ichibiki factories |
A Message From the President
Ichibiki Co., Ltd. began brewing miso and tamari soy sauce in 1772 with the permission of the Japanese Shogunate. In 1919, we established Otsuya Co., Ltd. (the predecessor of Ichibiki) and incorporated in 2019, having celebrated 100 years of industry thanks to the support of our customers.
Since then, with the best quality and ingenuity firmly in mind, we at Ichibiki have worked to provide our customers with products that leave them deliciously satisfied. To meet our customers changing needs, we are continuing to develop the latest technology and create a variety of seasonings and processed foods. We will continue to devote ourselves to understanding our customer’s needs and pursuing the quality they seek.
We at Ichibiki hope to continue to fill the tables of those who cook and eat our products with laughter and smiles.
The Origin of Ichibiki
Ichibiki’s trademark is said to derive from the soybean purchasing taking place in Hokkaido from the end of the Meiji era to the Taisho era (around 1912).
At the time, in order to inspect the quality of soybeans, an iron sampling bar known as a “sashi” was inserted into a straw sack to extract the beans, after which the fine quality soybeans were separated from poor quality ones and marked for shipping.
As our shipping mark then showed “one neatly pulled bar”, we came to be called “one pull” or “Ichibiki” in Japanese. This, in turn, became the name of our current company and the basis of our trademark.
We are called Ichibiki in reference to the way soybeans were sampled for freshness many years ago by use of an iron sampling bar.
Josan Oke
Conceptualized by our first president Keizo Nakamura in 1911, this preparation tank was a ground-breaking discovery, overturning the conventional wisdom of the time.
With a height and diameter of approximately 3.9 meters and a capacity of roughly 50 tons, this was one of Japan’s greatest preparation tanks, and it made the mass production of quality miso a reality.
Our giant 4m brewing vats, which we have used for over 100 years, have become a symbol of Ichibiki’s pursuit of ingenuity and desire to put quality first.
