Shigeoka Tofu

“Thinking from the perspective of water”

Mr. Shigeoka cultivates soybeans naturally and uses nigari (magnesium chloride) from the nearby Gotō-nada. He handles everything from cultivating soybeans, making tofu to shipping, packaging design, and product development himself.

The varieties such as basket tofu and firm tofu, and the silk or cotton types, differ not only in their manufacturing process but also in the type of nigari and the way the beans are ground. The deep-fried tofu, made by frying basket tofu in cold-pressed rapeseed oil, offers a taste and texture like no other; everyone was wide-eyed with surprise.

Living and working in nature, he says, he exists thanks to everything around him. 

His work and daily life are one. The work of people who have lived before him enables him to do what he does today.

This echoes what Zen monks, potters, dairy farmer, and papermaker have said, which I heard in an indigo dyeing studio also.

Carrying on ancestral techniques while refining them daily, he evolves by incorporating passion, innovations, and thoughts of “the current self.”

These past few weeks, together with the artists in residence, we have met many local people who devote their lives to their work, creating through a lifetime of dedication.