Business lineup
Company name | AKITA KONNO CO., LTD. |
Head Quarters | 248 Kariwano, Daisen-shi, Akita 019-2112 Japan |
TEL | +81-187-75-1250 |
President | Hiroshi Konno (Ph. D.) |
Established | Founded in April 5, 1910(KONNO CO., LTD.) Established in December 2, 1963(AKITA KONNO CO., LTD.) |
Employees | 42 |
Business | Manufacturing and distribution of tane koji (koji starter), yeast and lactobacillus Manufacturing and distribution of effective microorganisms Distribution of equipment and materials for brewed foods |
Company history

In 1877, the Konno had engaged in sake and soy sauce brewing industry as a family business at Kariwano village, Akita Prefecture (on the premises of the current Akita Konno Shoten).
The eldest brother, Seiji Konno who had studied at Faculty of Brewing Science, Osaka Technical Higher School (present Department of Technology, Osaka University) established Konno Shoten (Co. Ltd.) as a trader of brewing ingredients at Kyoto Prefecture together with his younger brothers, Shigezo and Kenkichi Konno in 1910. Three years later, they moved to Osaka and had already started making koji starter under the guidance of Seiji. Then, in 1916, the operation of Mikage Plant became possible under the support from Kiku-Masamune Sake.

It was believed that our innovation by employing a pure culture of the koji starter using a flask was a breakthrough at the moment, since koji starter of that time had been made by means of extremely primitive techniques.
After that, following with the worsening of the economic situation to obtain raw materials by the World War II, we came back to our hometown, Akita, where it was already famous for rice production, to seek an evacuation factory. Accordingly, since 1943, we kept producing Koji starter for sake brewing in the corner of Dewatsuru Shuzo.
Whereas our main office and plant at Osaka were reduced ashes due to the war-damage in March 1945, but in the same year, we were certified as a producer of koji starter at Akita. Then, in 1947, Kenzaburo Konno (husband of Seiji Konno’s younger sister) built a plant at Kariwano, Akita, the land of our ancestors, and evolved into the present Akita Konno Shoten.

In 1952, ahead of the industry, Kenji Konno (Kenzaburo’s second son) succeeded in establishment of a white-mutant strain, white koji mold (white-colored mutant) from black, and then yellow koji mold (Aspergillus oryzae) by gamma irradiation following by a series of hit strains in white type koji mold strains such as White Usami B11 mold (Aspergillus usamii mut. shirousamii) , White Koji (Aspergillus oryzae white-colored mut.) and Shochu White Koji (Aspergillus luchuensis white-colored mut.), etc. (received Japan Food Industry Excellent Company Award and Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Award in 1997).
Along our tradition since its foundation, we have been conducting many industry-academia-government joint researches and developments. Accordingly, we have obtained following products, prizes and facilities.
- White koji mold (collaborated with Institute of Applied Microbiology, University of Tokyo)
- Non-browning koji mold, “Gekko (moonlight)” (a mutant with no tyrosinase activity being responsible for the degenerative change with brown color) (collaborated with National Research Institute of Brewing attached to National Tax Agency) .
- Koji mold possessing high productivity of leucine acid, “Ginka” (collaborated with both Tokyo University of Agriculture and Brewing Laboratories at Akita Prefecture). This was the winning object of the Invention Encouragement Prize in Tohoku Local Commendation for Invention in 1990.
- Antifungal substance, “Asperatine” synthesized by koji mold (collaborated with Inst. Bioengineering, Akita Prefectural Junior College of Agriculture)
- We established Institute of Biochemistry Applied for Soil Eumycetes by getting funding from Bio-oriented Technology Research Advancement Institute in 1993.
- We have been producing source materials of biological pesticides requested from a major domestic manufacturer since 2002.
- We were awarded a prize from the Director of the Tohoku Regional Bureau of the Customs for “Development of a novel tane-koji for producing different miso with highly functional quality by means of free fatty acid and its anti-mutagenicity” in the Applied Department of Traditional Technology at the Third Monozukuri Nippon Grand Award in 2009.
- Further, we were awarded a prize of the Director-General of the Patent Office Award for the high novelty of our technology to produce such a functional miso in 2010.
We amalgamated Konno Moyashi Co. Ltd. at Kobe and set up a new factory in Kagogawa at the 101stanniversary of our founding in 2010, where we had built a solid foundation in Western Japan. We affiliated Konno Shoten Co. Ltd. in Kobe in 2014.
Hitherto, we have been protecting our founding spirits with care, which consist of “to be satisfied by the customer”, “to be supported by the customer” and “to create the value of customers” and determined to continue taking on the challenge in the next 100 years. In addition, in line with the recent expansion trend of overseas markets for brewed products, all our koji starter, yeast, and lactic acid bacteria are kosher certified products. Further, in 2017, we have established the largest bio-incubation center (BIC) in the industry where we are challenging to develop a new microbial industry.
We are proud to be involved in companies from across the country to receive METI’s “The Driving Company for the Regional Future” award in 2017 and to be selected as a member of “300 small and medium-sized business associations flapping into the future” in 2019.
In 2021, the international economic magazine “Forbes Japan” nominated us as one of eight carefully selected candidates from 142 companies nationwide for “Forbes Japan Small Giants Award 2021-2022” which discovered small companies with great potential to open up the future, and we were awarded the “Japan Pride Award”. The reasons for the award were that we had been not only “a bank of microorganisms to support Japanese cuisine” but “a key player in supporting Japanese food culture” and “a source for pride of Japan”.
Therefore, Akita-Konno Shoten Co. Ltd. will continue to take up the challenge as a company that opens up the feature with microorganisms.
Seiji Konno

Seiji Konno, our company founder, established a pure culture technology.
In the Meiji period (after1868), the movement to review the soy sauce brewing in traditional industries with the eyes of modern science began by hired western scholars who came to Japan and firstly recorded temperature in brewing processes of soy sauce using a thermometer.
However, in the then brewery, an always, old manner had been employed in the soy sauce brewing relying on the virtuoso performance exerted by Toji and Kurabito (a soy sauce brew master and a soy sauce brewer worker). Accordingly, an old koji mold was obtained from cultivation of a well-grown koji mold, so-called “tomo koji mold”, which could be a source for brewing soy sauce with good merchantable quality, together with spores until occurrence of their adhesion, and then the old koji was used as a tane koji.
Seiji Konno, Director of Laboratories attached at Kawamata Shoyu Co. Ltd.(present Daisho Co. Ltd.)developed an innovate method of making a soy sauce koji mold using a selected superior mold, which had been increased by a pure culture, and succeeded to introduce the method in the soy sauce brewing factory for the first time in Japan.
In 1901, the nation’s first faculty of brewing was established at Osaka Higher Technical School (the roots of Osaka University established in 1895) as the roots of Faculties of Fermentation Engineering and Applied Biological Engineering.
At the moment in the Faculty, Prof. Sentaro Tsuboi had instructed how to select a superior koji mold and to conduct its pure cultivation with the aid of microscopy which was based on the most advanced technology in the Western. Seiji Konno (from Kariwano Village, Senboku District (present Daisen City), Akita Prefecture) who received Prof. Tsuboi’s guidance at his 4th year of the faculty, entered Kawamata Shoyu Co. Ltd. with his graduate, and started immediately the pure cultivation of a koji mold for brewing soy sauce with taking the position of Director at the Experiment Laboratory of soy sauce brewing attached to the company. He could isolate a superior koji mold at early in the autumn of the same year and immediately yielded positive results with the preparation using in a process of the brewing.
Up until then, occurrence of unstable condition and unknown elements was hard to be eliminated during the process of the brewing soy sauce. First of all, a mixture consisting of steamed soybean and roasted, grinded wheat was put together into a koji-buta (a wooden box), having inside measurements of approximate 45cm long, 30cm wide and 3cm depth, and left in arranging on a shelf at the koji room. After that, the mixture happened to get moldy which was followed with increased numbers of koji mold. Therefore, a good brewery is the one where spores of superior mold are floating in every moment. Whereas at the same time, every brewery has its own character but there is no brewery with risk-free environment from invading contaminants unexceptionally.
The tomo koji was, as described above, prepared from a part of the previous mold left for the koji starter of the next generation. Accordingly, the most important role for the toji (the master brewer) was to maintain it involving the first hurdle for producing soy sauce with good quality. Whereas it was a quite difficult job for them to maintain its stable supply. It was said that good koji mold lived in a good brewing room, but, at the same time, large numbers of some other molds and bacteria distributed as adhesive and/or floating ones in nature were also present in everywhere including such a room. Further, it was common that even a useful mold would lose its superiority or power (depending on some weakened enzymic activity) causing loss of taste, deeply black discoloration and strange odors which occurred by actions of so-called contaminating microbes including mucor, rhizopus, blue mold, etc.
While, Seiji Konno incorporated a new procedure for cultivation of koji mold along with the isolation of a single cell. At first, the mass spore of koji mold diluted with viscous sterilized water containing glycerin was dropped on the slide glass. Then, only a single cell was absorbed by a sharp-ended filter paper under observation through a microscope and was cultured in whole filter paper.
After a while, a resulting single spore germinated and proliferated as koji mold whose specific enzyme activity was measured occasionally for its conformation. This process to establish a superior koji starter from a single cell had need of conducting large numbers of selections in the aforementioned culture by a daunting task.
Seiji had also devised a special flask, so-called “Konno flask”. It shaped almost triangular pyramid with equilateral base of which bottom had an area larger than that of regular one and enough for adhesion of the spore.
Finally, he had established the tane koji called “Konno mold” by these repeated selection and purification steps and unique techniques, and then generously distributed it to others who wished in the same trade. Therefore, Konno mold really became a “tane” (which means a “seed”) for Konno Moyashi (which means the koji starter) Co. Ltd. to start the business resulting in its rapid growth.
Whereas, he also obtained another superior koji starter with outstanding characteristics, “Kawamata mold”. Since it made easier for making koji and had high fertility, the mold showed advantageous effects on suppressed growth of co-existing, harmful molds. Then, brewing of delicious taste and unique flavor proceeded with the aid of strong activity of proteolytic enzyme present in Kawamata mold and further, glycates which had been synthesized by saccharifying amylase present also in the mold were utilized by yeast through the alcohol fermentation reaction resulting in production of a natural mellow aroma. Therefore, Kawamata mold became known as the tane koji with GMQ (good merchantable quality) and an essential ingredient for the soy sauce brewing.
In 1910, Seiji Konno established Konno Shoten Co. Ltd. in Kyoto during his career at the Experiment Laboratory of Kawamata Shoyu Co. Ltd. with his younger brothers, Shigezo and Kenkichi Konno. Later, after moving to Osaka, the company was expanded to two departments involving in the production of moyashi and machinery and the business was tried to expand nationwide. The koji starter with GMQ was powdered and packed in a small back for supplying to meet demand, then sent from Tohoku in the north and to Kyushu in the south.
All these techniques could be described as the origin of today’s quality control, and brought great pleasure to the soy source brewers who could use koji starter conveniently in place of the stocked and reused koji (tomo koji). Further, needless to say, they made a great contribution widely for both improvement and advancement in the quality of soy sauce.
Whereas, by the department of production of machinery, mechanization of facility in Kawamata Shoyu Co. Ltd. was successful following by acquisition of large numbers of patents. In April 1921, the first issue of the journal, “Jozokai” (Nishi Ward, Osaka) was appeared to commemorate the 10thanniversary of its founding through which their machinery and appliances for brewing were sold. Seiji Konno published articles routinely and 59 and 46 manuscripts from engineers in soy source brewing and sake brewing personnels, respectively were published in this journal up the beginning of 1927.
Seiji Konno passed away on November 13th, 1933 whose early death was regretted but his will was passed down to his bereaved family. Konno Shoten Co. Ltd. at Kobe and Akita Konno Shoten Co. Ltd. at Kariwano, Daisen City, Akita where his parent lived have kept supplying moyashi nationwide.
In his life, many disciples joined from his junior and trade who adored his personality and received hard practical training at the Experiment Laboratory of Kawamata Shoyu Co. Ltd. Among them, Mr. Zen-ichi Yamazaki who took the post of Director Executive General Manger Manufacturing at Choshi Shoyu Co. Ltd. (present Higeta Shoyu Co. Ltd.) graduated from Dept. Brewing of Osaka Higher Technical School in July 1909, and worked as an assistant under him about 6 months before military service. He reported that the process for making soy source from moromi (previous step of soy source) under stirring, one of the most difficulties in the soy source brewing, proceeded already with the aid of compressed air at that moment (Chomi Kagaku, May 1974).
Dr. Benzaburo Kato who established Kyowa Hakko Co. Ltd. and today it is in a position to lead the Brewing in Japan, had visited Kawamata Shoyu in 1922 where he was received the practical training for his graduation thesis in school at Dept. Technology, Imperial University of Kyoto (present Kyoto University) . Reminiscing about that time, he speaks that he had various inputs from Seiji Konno.
Further, Mr. Masao Kawada who was the former president of Kawata Co. Ltd. and Konno’s junior at Osaka Higher Technical School, and whose father was making dressing materials affiliated with soy source in Amagasaki, was charged to make microscope specimens of koji mold by Seiji Konno at Kawamata Shoyu Co. Ltd. after graduating from the School. He was forced to repeat it at least 50 times for every specimen when prepared only one plate. In case it took one hour for one time, it was calculated that he spent 50 hours every time, but resulting in becoming his confidence for making a satisfactory plate. While, Seiji kept saying that no one could treat invisible mold at such the place as the mountain of garbage, and made Masao to do nothing but cleaning. Accordingly, he wrote his gratitude for noticeable enjoyment in cleaning the laboratory, and well guided precepts by Seiji brought in later years that factories at Kawamata Shoyu Co. Ltd. were thoroughly cleaned with the intention of cleanliness.
Pres. Matasaburo Kawamori, just because of welcoming an engineer who were hard to get, Seiji Konno, could implement an innovative business in the soy sauce manufacturer with the aid of both tangible (mechanization and mass production) and intangible (quality control technology) factors.
Matasaburo Kawamori was awarded Royal Medal with Green Ribbon for his hard work in business and mentioned for his achievement in Dec. 9, 1913.
Source (partial reprint)
Taizo Kawamori, Pioneer of modern shoyu manufacturing, Journal of the Brewing Society of Japan, 96(6):386-393, 2001.
Pure culture of the original mold by means of a conical flask

Konno Flask: an exclusive flask for culture of the original mold(the one on the left in the photo). It shaped almost triangular pyramid with equilateral base of which bottom had an area larger than that of regular one(the one on the right in the photo) and enough for adhesion of spores.