Rice Miso (Kome Miso) (米味噌)
Miso made with rice koji - the largest family of miso, covering most of the miso sold in Japan and abroad.
| Koji base | Rice koji |
|---|---|
| Share | The most common koji type for miso in Japan |
| Range | From sweet white Saikyo miso to strong red Sendai miso - rice koji alone does not decide the taste |
Rice miso is the default. Its character is set less by the rice koji than by the proportions of soybean to koji, the salt level and the maturation time: a high share of koji and a short maturation give a sweet, pale miso, while more soybean, more salt and longer aging give a dark red one.
Shinshu, Sendai, Saikyo and Edo sweet miso are all rice misos - four of the six regional pages in this guide sit inside this one family, which is why 'rice miso' on a label is a starting point, not a full description.
See also
White misoRelated page in this guide.Red and awase miso
Related page in this guide.
Sources: Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), 'Traditional Foods in Japan'; JAS soy sauce standards; Umami Information Center; Kikkoman official information; Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Checked 6 November 2026.