Make Your Own Soy Sauce in Japan’s Old Capital Asuka Nara

About this tour

Step into a century-old soy sauce brewery in Nara and press your own batch using traditional wooden equipment. After touring the fermentation rooms at this family-run operation since 1918, you'll extract moromi by hand, bottle your creation with a custom label, and taste the raw product alongside silken tofu. The experience wraps with local mitarashi dumplings dressed in the brewery's signature sauce.

Highlights

• Tour a three-generation family brewery operating since 1918
• Press soy sauce from moromi using traditional wooden apparatus
• Bottle and label your own batch to take home
• Taste unpasteurised soy sauce fresh from the press
• Sample mitarashi dumplings with house-made sauce

What to expect

Expect a hands-on afternoon at a working brewery where you'll see fermentation vats and learn how moromi develops. The pressing itself is physical but straightforward—you'll work the traditional wooden press to extract the liquid, then move to bottling and labelling your bottle. The tasting portion pairs your freshly pressed sauce with chilled tofu to show its clean, bright flavour before pasteurisation. You'll finish with dumplings coated in the brewery's collaboration sauce, a local favourite for decades. The whole experience runs about two and a half hours, with snacks included.

Good to know

Located in Asuka, Nara with public transport access nearby. The pressing involves sustained physical effort, so it's not suitable for those with heart conditions or limited mobility. Wear clothes you don't mind getting stained. Bring your labelled bottle home as a souvenir.