Yuasa Soy Sauce - Undersea Aged Soy Sauce - A Story of "Fluctuation" and "Umami"

Yuasa Soy Sauce was aged 15m below the surface of the sea in Yuasa Bay. This Yuasa Soy Sauce Undersea Aged Soy Sauce is unusual in that it is produced "under the sea".
Under the sea, where there are fewer temperature changes and ultraviolet rays than on land, the naturally occurring "fluctuations" in the sea move the bottle and promote the aging process.

The deep, rich flavor of the natural born vintage, the scent of the seashore that permeates the bottle, and the design nurtured by nature such as microorganisms, coral, and shellfish are one of a kind in the world.

Please enjoy this rare and world-renowned flavor from Yuasa Town, the birthplace of Japanese soy sauce. The bottle cap is sealed with red wax, so please soften it with hot water and then remove it before using.

What prompted we to make Yuasa Soy Sauce underwater aged soy sauce?

It all started on September 16, 2021, at a memorial ceremony for the Turkish warship Ertugrul* held in Kushimoto Town, the southernmost tip of Wakayama Prefecture. Yuasa Soy Sauce was sunk off the coast of Kushimoto along with local sake to soothe the souls of those who sank at sea.

We were excited to see how different it would be aged underwater and on land, so we decided to take on the challenge!

*What was the sinking of the Ertuğrul?

To give a brief overview of the sinking of the Ertuğrul, "On the night of September 16, 1890, the Ottoman warship Ertuğrul Fırkateyni, which was also featured in the film "Sea Disaster 1890," was shipwrecked in the sea east of Kashinozaki on Kii Oshima Island, which is currently off the coast of Kushimoto Town, Higashimuro District, Wakayama Prefecture." 

 "It is a true story of how the residents of Oshima, Kushimoto Town, risked their lives to rescue the crew. Even today, the gratitude they felt remains as a bond between the two countries of Turkey and Japan."

Six months later, in March 2022, the bottle was pulled up from the ocean floor, and it looked impressive with many shellfish clinging to it, but the soy sauce itself was "extremely fresh and delicious!" Anything would deteriorate over time, but this soy sauce retained the freshness it had when it was submerged. 

The fifth-generation owner, Toshiro Shinko, said he was impressed and surprised by the fact that it tasted like it was freshly made, without the sluggishness typical of aged soy sauce.

The cap is sealed with wax, so please follow the steps below to melt the wax and open the cap.

1. Pour enough hot water into a paper cup so that the cap is submerged. *Around 90℃ to 95℃

2. Turn the bottle upside down and dip the cap in the liquid to melt the wax.

3. Once a certain amount of wax has floated to the top of the cup, remove it from the hot water and unscrew the cap to open it.