Yamauchi Honten began making their miso and soy sauce over 270 years ago in 1751 in the lively town of Shinmachi on the west side of the famous Kumamoto Castle where local merchants gathered. In 1999, in an effort to preserve the local groundwater, they installed a rainwater infiltration basin and in 2009 became the first small and medium-sized enterprise to reach an agreement with the Council for Promotion of Water Recycling Farming to recycle groundwater in the Kumamoto region by supporting the flooding of paddy fields in the Shirakawa middle basin. These efforts replenish ~120,000 tons of groundwater annually.
