Our products are tasty and traditional pickles which arrange dishes pleasant to the eye.

At this time, Tanma-cho (currently located in the vicinity of Shimokikoma-cho in Sano City) was a ginger-growing region and was also an abundant source of basic ingredients. In addition, this area was also home to a flourishing pickling industry that produced pickles using locally grown ginger. After joining a pickling company, President Sakae underwent training and in April 1961, founded Endo Foods Pickle Manufacturer as a one-man concern.

At the time of our establishment, we would purchase domestically produced ginger from agricultural cooperatives, wash them, and pickle and preserve them in a high saline solution in large barrels (measuring approximately three meters in height). In the beginning, we sold sweetened pickled ginger whole. However, in considering ways in which we could more conveniently provide our products to sushi restaurants, we were inspired to use planes utilized by carpenters to thinly slice ginger. With a device that was improved to facilitate the slicing of ginger, we carefully sliced each piece by hand.

Gradually over time, the volume of domestically produced ginger fell and thus began the practice of procuring basic ingredients from overseas.
While materials were purchased from Taiwan for about ten years, the industrialization of Taiwan resulted in higher commodity prices. As the prices of basic ingredients also soared, we shifted our focus to the Philippines. However, as goods of a decent level of quality were not produced there, we looked to Thailand instead as a source of our imports.
For the next twenty to thirty years, we purchased goods from Thailand and continue to do so even today.
Nevertheless, with the poor state of local peace and order and the lack of any means of transportation in mountainous areas in those days, procurement was a truly difficult task. By seeking to mechanize our operations at an early stage while importing large amounts of basic ingredients from overseas, we managed to attract human resources and expand on an ongoing basis.

While passing through many perilous situations, the president toured numerous regions in search of ginger as the basic ingredient!

『Shingari-Kanseihin was a new product that presented customers with a chance to purchase gari (sweetened pickled ginger) in a completed state (kanseihin), hence the name. Both Shingari-Kanseihin and Shingari are registered trademarks of Endo Foods Co., Ltd.
Shingari-Kanseihin: Trademark number 773567
Shingari: Trademark number 2581751
Registration Symbol®

It was no easy matter to win the support of sushi chefs, who have exacting and particular standards in such matters, for our Shingari product. However, by repeatedly undertaking a trial-and-error process and carefully exploring ways in which we could enhance the taste of Shingari, our Shingari-Kanseihin earned the backing of many sushi chefs who declared that this product was, in their words, “Delicious!”
Shingari was shipped in those days to sushi restaurants in eighteen-liter cans, a type of packaging still in use today. Small packets for retail sales were also produced.


Photo of an original can of Shingari-Kanseihin

Package design can be identified as one factor behind the popularity of Shingari-Kanseihin. The design of Shingari-Kanseihin, which is still in use today, evokes the drop curtain used by the then-popular Kabuki Theatrical Corporation and was created by borrowing the red, yellow, and green color scheme that can be seen in the form and coloring of characters commonly used in that world. This design corresponded to the positive image of dynamic vitality associated with native Tokyoites and was heralded by Tokyo-style sushi vendors as a design perfectly suited to sushi. The package design in use today still evokes the same visual associations as did the original design. In the forty-five years since our founding, we have always maintained the same great taste and delivered a delectable delight to our customers.

Current design of commercial packaging for Shingari-Kanseihin