We introduce about our company - profile, history, message, origin, to "Josan Oke" tank.
Company Profile
| Founded | 1772 |
| Capital | 390 million yen |
| Employees | 600 |
| President | Takuya 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, 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
Founded in 1772 in Aichi Prefecture, our company started brewing soybean miso and tamari soy sauce, representative products of the Tokai region’s food culture. We offer a wide range of products such as boiled soybeans, hot pot soups, and retort pouch meals, all making use of our primary ingredient, soybeans. In recent years, we have also been working on using the unique lactic acid bacteria discovered in our miso brewery. For over 250 years since our founding, we have continued to evolve by combining traditional brewing techniques with cutting-edge technologies that meet the changing needs of the times.
Our company name “Ichibiki” comes from the kanji character “一 (ichi),” used as the cargo mark on soybeans that we purchased during the Meiji era (1868 – 1912) and Taisho era (1912 – 1926). Our ability to select high-quality soybeans earned us a strong reputation, and over time, we came to be known as “Ichibiki.” In order to live up to our company name, which has become a symbol of quality, we will continue to pursue delicious products and strive to create products that are valuable to our customers.
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.
