Researches on the Manufacture and Composition of “ Miso.” 
CARRIED OUT IN CONJUNCTION WITH 
M. Nagaoka and Y. Kurashima 
BY 
Dr. O. Kellner. 
Miso, e.g. a food prepared from a mixture of soy beans, rice 
or barley, common salt, and water, by slow fermentation, seems 
to have been known in Japan since remote times. Its manu¬ 
facture, like so many other useful processes, appears to have 
been taught to the Japanese by Chinese or Koreans. At least 
the Sandai jitsu roku, one of the oldest Japanese records, tells 
us, that a Chinese priest named Jingo transmitted more than 
iooo years ago a small quantity of miso to the then Emperor of 
Japan, and the name “ Korei shiwo ” sometimes, though not 
frequently used instead of the word “ miso,” points to its in¬ 
troduction from Korea, where indeed, as well as in China, miso 
is still a favorite food. 
In Japan miso is very widely consumed, especially by the 
lower classes who enjoy it as a sort of food adjunct to the 
vegetables of which their diet chiefly consists. Although it 
is eaten throughout the whole country, it seems to be specially 
favoured in the north-eastern provinces. Statistics on its con¬ 
sumption do not exist at present and may also be difficult to 
compile, as in the country it is made by the families themselves, 
and only in large communities are special miso works esta¬ 
blished. Assuming, however, 10 momme ( 37.5 grms.) to be 
