【Reading】なかのまたざえもん

【English Name】Nakano Matazaemon

Nakano Mataemon is the figure who established the foundations of the vinegar-brewing enterprise that would eventually develop into today's Mizkan Group. The family were brewers in Handa, Owari Province (present-day Handa City, Aichi Prefecture), and the head of the household passed down the name "Mataemon" from generation to generation.

The first-generation Mataemon (1756-1828) was born into the Oguri Kizaemon family and, after being adopted into the Nakano Hanzaemon family of sake brewers in Handa, became independent and founded his own house in 1804 (the first year of the Bunka era). Having seen and heard firsthand how the sushi boom was thriving in Edo, he anticipated that demand for vinegar would expand and launched into the brewing of "kasuzu" (lees vinegar), which used sake lees as its main raw material. This venture is regarded as the starting point of Mizkan's founding.

The birth of kasuzu is credited with having had an enormous influence on the rise of Edo-style sushi. Because the method of producing vinegar from the sake lees generated during the sake-brewing process made it possible to supply vinegar relatively cheaply, in large quantities, and on a stable basis, the production efficiency of sushi rice was greatly improved.

From the fourth generation (Meiji period), the character used to write the family name was changed (to a different kanji also read "Nakano"), and in the seventh generation the character used in the given name was likewise changed (to a variant also read "Mataemon"). The seventh-generation head was also an honorary citizen of Handa City. The eighth-generation head, Kazuhide Nakano, assumed the name in 2003 but reverted to his original name in 2014, so there is currently no household head who goes by the name "Mataemon."