It means that no synthetic surfactants, mineral oils, fragrances, colorants, or preservatives are added. The only ingredients are soap base and tocopherol. Tocopherol is the labeled name of natural vitamin E. It is a rule for cosmetics to indicate what is additive-free when they say "additive-free". The package of "additive-free soap" clearly states what is additive-free.

This is how soap is made. The raw materials, fats and oils, and caustic soda, are boiled in a large kettle for four days to complete the process, a time-consuming and traditional method. There are two ways to write "kettle-fired" and "kettle-cooked," but Matsuyama Yushi uses the "kettle-fired" method. The origin of soap is believed to be a mysterious soil discovered in ancient times that removes dirt. It was made from a mixture of grease dripped from the meat of sheep dedicated to the temple and ashes from bonfires. Matsuyama Yushi uses the character for "bonfire" to evoke this image.

In 1995, the issue of waste plastics was not attracting as much attention as it does today. However, "There must be some usable containers in the house. It would be a shame to waste them, so let's get people to use them. With this simple idea in mind, we launched the amino acid soap shampoo product in refillable bottles (we also had empty bottles available just in case). As the number of customers increased, we received more and more requests to sell the product in bottles, so we started selling liquid soap products in bottles.

At the same time as the popularity of Matsuyama Yushi's "Yuzu (citron) Body Lotion" increased, the yuzu fragrance boom resurfaced. There was a fear that yuzu essential oil would become difficult to obtain. However, we did not want to use synthetic fragrances! So, we created our own farm, "Yamakami Kaju Yakusoen" in Sanakawachi Village, Tokushima Prefecture, a citrus specialty area. The farm also has a facility that can extract essential oils using a proprietary process called "whole peel scraping ®". In addition, the farm will obtain JAS organic certification in the summer of 2025. Yamakami Kaju Yakusoen will continue to grow.
Click here for the Yamakami Kaju Herb Garden website

The Matsuyama Oil and Fat Factory does not have a dedicated tour route. This allows visitors to enter the factory and observe the manufacturing process up close and personal. At the Sumida Plant, you can see the firing of soap kettles, cutting into small pieces, and filling of liquid products. At the Fuji-Kawaguchiko Plant, you can see the filling, drying, and polishing of transparent soap, the filling of skin care products, and the kneading of soap into shape by machine. Please come and see how familiar products are made.
Click here to make a reservation for a factory tour.