# Tamari Shoyu Is Overrated In The West

When you search about shoyu (soy sauce) in English, a lot of peopl
e recommend tamari shoyu because it's less salty and has deeper ta
ste & flavor. But if you search about tamari shoyu in Japanese (if
you just search about shoyu, you probably couldn't find tamari), p
eople recommend it only as a dipping sauce for sashimi (raw fish)
or for stir-frying meat & fish because of its strong flavor.

Why is it like that?


First of all, the darkness and flavor of shoyu comes from the ferm
entation of soybeans. So more salt means less fermentation and lig
hter color. Also more wheat (shoyu is not just from soybeans) mean
s lighter color. Like shiro miso (white miso) containing wheat has
lighter color than aka miso (red miso).

Then there are types of shoyu by the colors. Tamari > Koikuchi > U
sukuchi > Shiro. Tamari is the darkest and Shiro is the lightest.
Tamari uses only soybeans but Shiro uses a lot more wheat than soy
beans (1:9). If you compare saltiness, Usukuchi is the most salty
and Tamari is the least.

"Shoyu" without any adjectives means koikuchi shoyu. The ratio of
soybean and wheat is 1:1 in koikuchi. So it's for general purpose.
And more importantly, it was invented in Kanto region which contai
ns Edo (the former name of Tokyo).


The origin of shoyu was tamari. So I could call tamari the most Ch
inese type because shoyu came from China. But soon people in Kyoto
realized that tamari is too strong and dark so that it kills the o
riginal flavors and colors of the ingredients. Thus they invented
usukuchi shoyu.

Usukuchi shoyu is the most salty. Because of that, you need only a
little of it. This with the already light color makes foods a lot
lighter. Usukuchi shoyu accentuate the original flavors and colors
instead of killing them. Think of Greek Horta. I think those are s
imilar in the way of thinking.

However, with the start of Edo period, the capital of Japan went f
rom Kyoto to Edo. Well, emperors still have lived in Kyoto, but th
ey are just symbols anyway. And a problem was that Edo people ate
much more fishes and birds than Kyoto people, but usukuchi shoyu i
s not strong enough to cover the original scents. And tamari is st
ill too strong.

Note that Kyoto was the city of emperor, scholars, and buddhists w
ho don't eat meat but Edo was more like a city of merchants who pr
efered stronger taste. Also Kyoto is surrounded by mountains so th
at people couldn't get fresh seafoods anyway even if they wanted.

Thus Kanto people invented koikuchi shoyu. With that, Kanto people
has started to use katsuobushi for the main ingredient of dashi an
d soba went widespread with mentsuyu. In Kyoto, it's still konbu >
katsuobushi, and udon > soba.


Long story short, what I really want to say is that stop overusing
tamari like a savage. And try usukuchi shoyu. It's a lot more refi
ned and noble taste. Shiro miso and konbu dashi are good too!