01 · Independent Analysis
Certificate of Analysis, in every shipment
Each bottle is accompanied by a third-party Certificate of Analysis verifying acidity, amino-acid density, pH, and absence of caramel color, preservatives, and dilution water.
TETUJIN VINEGAR CO. · EST. 1817
Eight generations.
One unbroken culture.
Since 1817.
Slow-fermented rice vinegar, matured 12 to 36 months in cedar and cypress barrels beneath the Shigaraki foothills.
Shop the CollectionLot No. 2024-IX · Shipped with Certificate of Analysis
— The Collection
Six expressions of one koji culture.
Each line is built from the same Edo-period mother culture — Shigaraki-Hatchi — and shaped by a different aging window, grain, and culinary purpose. No caramel. No dilution. No shortcuts.
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01
Junmai Black Vinegar
The deepest expression. Matured three full years in cypress. Dense amino-acid profile, umami-forward finish. Gold Medal, Japan Vinegar Awards 2024.
From ¥4,800
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02
Aged Brown Rice Vinegar
Our signature. Toasted-nose acidity, rounded by long cedar aging. The bottle behind Narisawa and Pierre Gagnaire's tasting menus. Gold Medal 2023.
From ¥3,200
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03
Pure Rice Vinegar
A clean, mineral-driven vinegar for daily cooking. Bright acidity at 5.0%, the clarity that lets seasonal ingredients speak.
From ¥1,800
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04
Seasoned Sushi Vinegar
Ready-to-use for shari. Our pure rice vinegar married to Rishiri salt and Rishu kombu — the proportions our brewer uses at home.
From ¥2,400
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05
Rice Black with Hon-Mirin
A two-year Junmai base softened with a measure of our house-brewed hon-mirin. For glazes, teriyaki, and slow-simmered broths.
From ¥3,600
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06
Ceremonial Reserve, 1L
Bottled in our largest format for chefs and ceremonial use. Each carries a hand-stamped lot number linking to its brewing notes.
From ¥9,400
— A Living Lineage
One mother culture, propagated without pause since the Edo period.
Every bottle of Tetujin vinegar begins with a single organism — Aspergillus oryzae, the koji mold that converts rice starch into sugar. Our particular strain, which we call Shigaraki-Hatchi, has been continuously propagated inside these cellars since 1817. It has never been freeze-dried, never shipped to a laboratory, never restarted from a commercial starter.
What that means at the table is something we cannot engineer into a recipe: a baseline of amino-acid depth, an audible roundness on the palate, and an acidity that finishes clean rather than sharp. Industrial vinegar — the 24- to 72-hour cycle you find on most shelves — is a different substance altogether, one that mimics sourness without the layered fermentation that gives aged vinegar its character.
— The Tetujin Family, brewers since 1817
— The Slow Method
Months, not hours. The four stages of a patient fermentation.
Our cellars hold 14°C year-round without climate control, set into the Shigaraki mountain slope. The cedar and cypress barrels breathe. The mash rests. Nothing is forced.
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STAGE 01
Koji Seeding · Days 1–3
Polished rice is steamed, cooled to 32°C, and dusted with Shigaraki-Hatchi spores. Over 48 hours, the koji colonizes each grain — converting starch to sugar and laying down the enzyme foundation for everything that follows.
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STAGE 02
Mash Fermentation · Weeks 1–6
The koji-rice is combined with water and seed vinegar in cedar tanks. Wild yeast slowly takes hold. The mash, called moromi, softens and sweetens, then turns — over six quiet weeks — into a young vinegar base.
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STAGE 03
Barrel Transfer · Month 2
The young vinegar is racked into cypress and cedar barrels, each one previously seasoned by decades of use. The wood's resident microflora — yeasts, lactobacilli, surface molds — becomes the second half of the brew.
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STAGE 04
Cedar Aging · 12 to 36 Months
The barrels rest. Twelve months for our Pure Rice, twenty-four for Aged Brown Rice, thirty-six for Junmai Black. The vinegar clarifies, deepens, and concentrates its amino acids — losing water through the wood, gaining complexity with every season.
— Every Bottle, Tested
Traceable lot. Independent analysis. Nothing added, nothing taken away.
02 · Lot Traceability
Scannable QR code, brewed notes per bottle
A hand-stamped lot number on every label links to that specific barrel's brewing notes — the koji harvest, mash dates, racking record, and taster's notes from bottling day.
03 · Acidity Verification
4.8 – 5.2% acidity, unblended
Our vinegar tests between 4.8% and 5.2% natural acidity. No water is added to standardize the figure. What the cellar produces is what reaches your shelf — no blending, no correction.
— By the Numbers
The scale of credibility behind the small-batch label.
23
Countries exported to
Including the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Singapore, and Australia.
41
Michelin-starred kitchens
Including Narisawa (Tokyo), Pierre Gagnaire (Paris), and Sushi Nakazawa (New York).
380+
Specialty retailers worldwide
Independent food shops, fermentation boutiques, and chef-supply houses across five continents.
18,000L
Annual production
Across six product lines, by fourteen full-time brewers including three Living National Treasure apprentices.
Recent Recognition
- Gold Medal · Japan Vinegar Awards 2024 · Junmai Black Vinegar
- Gold Medal · Japan Vinegar Awards 2023 · Aged Brown Rice Vinegar
- Certified Authentic Shigaraki-Gōshu product (1 of 7 vinegar houses in Shiga Prefecture)
- Recommended by the Japan Fermentation Wellness Council for amino-acid and organic-acid density