KOJI THE KITCHEN is a creative and exploratory project for food culture centered on koji starter, launched in October 2021 by Kojiya Sanzaemon, a koji starter manufacturer founded in the Muromachi period.

The traditional "koji" culture has been alive in Japan since ancient times, utilizing the effects of various koji fungi. Currently, koji making has gone beyond the realm of raw material use at breweries, and is showing a definite craze, with koji being used as a food ingredient in the food tech field and being elevated to a new cooking technique in restaurants.

At KOJI THE KITCHEN, we combine Kojiya Sanzaemon's knowledge of koji mold with your ideas and techniques from other fields to explore and bring out the new appeal of koji.

Together with all of our friends who share our belief in the potential of fermentation and koji, we will build a fermentation culture community that begins in the Higashi Mikawa region.

What is seed koji? It is a product made by cultivating and adjusting the microorganism "Koji mold" necessary for making koji. It has been treasured since ancient times as the foundation of Japanese fermented foods.