History of Morihachi

The founder of the Morihachi family Ohsumi (Takanobu) Kameda was a decendant of Emperor Seiwa. In the 16th century, he governed the Ikko religion followers and served the Kaga domain lord Toshiie Maeda as a military commander. Sohbei Ohsumi, Kameda’s grandson, ran a sake brewery from 1596 to 1615 near Kanazawa Castle. It was named Morishita-ya. During this period, he changed his name to Hachizaemon, and became the first Morishita-ya Hachizaemon. The second Hachizaemon received an order from the domain to start a confectionery in 1625, (Kan’ei 2) and became the Kaga domain’s exclusive confectionery artisan.

The third Hachizaemon was appointed by the third Kaga domain lord Toshitsune Maeda to create a product modeled after molded sugar sweets offered to Hideyoshi Toyotomi by the first Kaga domain lord Toshiie Maeda, to be named and autographed by a tea master Enshu Kobori. This was the birth of Chouseiden. Chouseiden was then presented to the Emperor Gomizunoo and became the appointed offering to the successive generations of Tokugawa Shogun family, which then brought praise to Chouseiden as the greatest of the three confectioneries of Japan. Generations after the third Hachizaemon, Morishita-ya was appointed to be a high-ranked servant and silver mint and walked alongside the Kaga Maeda family for 300 years. After the Meiji era, the shop name has been changed to Morihachi. Morihachi ushered into a new era with over 380 years of its heritage and mission instilled within their heart as a Kaga domain confectionery purveyor.