Yoshimi Tanigawa is an inspired master of Kyoto cuisine who has dedicated his life to food as an art and near spiritual experience. He teaches his students both taste and discipline. He creates pure Kyoto cuisine, without the excessive decoration that has been added in recent decades. At Tanigawa’s Kichisen, in addition to one of the greats meals of a lifetime, patrons are able to get reacquainted with authentic Kyoto cuisine. Tanigawa’s cuisine is unsurpassed Kyoto Kaiseki that draws on the four genres of Kyoto Cuisine; Yusoku Ryori (court cuisine), Kaiseki Ryori (tea ceremony cuisine), Shojin Ryori (temple food) and Obanzai (household food). If you are going to be in Kyoto and you like fine dining, make a reservation at Kichisen.

Yoshimi Tanigawa
We been trying to we had been trying to interview him for about 6 months. We had exchanged telephone calls, faxes and had some 5 meetings but could never close the deal. Finally when I went to return a book that we had borrowed from him he suddenly said that we ought to do an article on his Osechi Ryori. This is it!

Over the past few weeks I have spent some time at Kichisen getting to know Tanigawa. He has given us radishes, new rice, squid and some invaluable pointers on how to make excellent tsukemono, shiokara and dashi. Though Kichisen was reviewed in the New York Times 20 years ago and defeated Masaharu Morimoto on the Iron Chef television program in 1999, it is a real honor to have to opportunity to tell the English speaking world a bit more about this remarkable, dedicated and inspiring person.

Ikamaryu Shikibocho (Court Knife Ceremony) Master

Humble Beginnings in Rural Hyogo
Tanigawa grew up in rural Hyogo Prefecture, near Kobe. He lost his father when he was 4 years old and this painful experience caused him think deeply about life and become interested in religion.

His mother was often in poor health and from the time he was 9, he cooked for his mother and older brother. While the young Tanigawa had meager resources to make a bento lunchbox with, he had pride and did not want he or his brother to appear poor at school. Over a weed fire, he experimented and perfected techniques adding water and flour to eggs, appearing to have an overflowing bento box, unmatched in the school lunchroom. Tanigawa’s ambition and inventiveness was starting to develop.

Change of Plans
Since junior high school Tanigawa had intended to become a primary school teacher. This was the time that socially and culturally Japan really began to change, he sensed that many people would loose their way and wanted to be a teacher so that he could lead children in the right direction and help them find their way.

Tanigawa set his mind on going to a certain high school known for producing excellent teacher but much to his dismay he wan unable to enter this school. It was the only school that he wanted to go to and as he was able, he decided not to go to high school at all.

Ikamaryu Shikibocho (Court Knife Ceremony) Master

Arrival in Kyoto, Entering the Culinary World
At age 15 Tanigawa arrived in Kyoto. His older brother was working at a sushi restaurant in the city and arranged work at an average restaurant for the younger Tanigawa. Tanigawa said that even at a young age he knew that he was ambitious and always had the desire master what he was learning. He worked his way up and in several years was working in one of Gion’s finest restaurants under renowned master chef Toraichi Takibata.

Learned from the Master: Sunao
While under Takibata’s instruction, Tanigawa mastered the other traditional arts related to cuisine; flower arrangement, the tea ceremony and calligraphy. Tanigawa said that from his master he learned the importance of integrity and straightforwardness towards his cuisine, the customer and himself. (素直な料理、素直な味、素直な人間)

The word he uses, sunao (素直), is difficult to translate literally into English in this case. Some of the applicable meanings in the dictionary are: gentle, mild, obedient, frank. Tanigawa’s cuisine and traditional Kyoto cuisine are sunao.

Ikamaryu Shikibocho (Court Knife Ceremony) Master

Kyoto Kaiseki Restaurant: Kichisen
At age 31, Tanigawa built is own restaurant on Shimogamo Hondori Street, on the south-west side of Shimogamo Shrine. Shimogamo Shrine is a UNESCO World Heritage site and is older than Kyoto.

Kichisen Gate

Kichisen Entry: Master Tanigawa and Kyosaku ‘Encouragement Stick’

Notice the inscribed wooden slat on the wall, it is inscribed by the high priest at Jukoin, a sub-temple at Daitoku Temple. The inscription is called zengo, literally, ‘Zen word’ is a poem. This poem was composed specifically for Kichisen. The ‘encouragement stick’ is used to lightly hit drowsy meditators on the shoulder during Zen meditation sessions. The kyosaku, also known as keisaku, shall we say sets the tone for Tanigawa’s students.

Zen Kyosaku – detail

Signature of Zen master.

Kichisen ‘Sign’

Modesty

Kichisen Interior

Alcove with Ikebana

Dining Room

Large Dining Room

Kichisen Neighborhood: Shimogamo Shrine

Kichisen Surroundings: Shimogamo Shrine Gate

Kichisen Surroundings: Shimogamo Shrine and Tadasu Forest

Links

Iron Chef – Battle Pike Eel (1 of 5)
Iron Chef – Battle Pike Eel (2 of 5)
Iron Chef – Battle Pike Eel (3 of 5)
Iron Chef – Battle Pike Eel (4 of 5)
Iron Chef – Battle Pike Eel (5 of 5)

The finest wagashi for the tea ceremony are sweets for the mind, the motifs come from classical poetry and painting.

Suetomi Jyogashiya
We had an opportunity to visit one of Kyoto’s exceptional wagashi stores; Suetomi and interview the owner, Mr Yamaguchi who created a selection of Suetomi’s seasonal wagashi for us to photograph for this article.

Suetomi, founded in 1893 makes namagashi (生菓子), literally ‘wet confection’, for the tea ceremony. In addition to selling namagashi retail, today Suetomi creates confections for important customers such as companies, tea ceremony schools and temples. Some namagashi are not offered to the general public and are reserved for a certain customer only.

Suetomi is a jyogashiya (上菓子屋), the highest of the three varieties of wagashi stores. Traditionally, only jyogashiya were legally permitted to use sugar and they served the imperial household, the nobility and major temples.

Namagashi for the tea ceremony is of course sweet, often very sweet as it compliments maccha which is quite bitter. However, namagashi are not just for the stomach. The forms and motifs are always seasonal and natural and often based upon poems and paintings from classical Japan. This is a sweet for the learned and educated, to be enjoyed by the mind as well.

Reception
Upon arrival for the interview and photoshoot we were given late spring theme ajisai (hydrangea) namagashi.

Ajisai Namagashi

Paku Eating Ajisai Namagashi in the Reception Room

Inside Ajisai Namagashi

Notice the azuki bean paste inside.

Kyoto Jyogashi Namagashi Throughout the Seasons
This is a selection of Suetomi’s namagashi throughout the season. The following text explanations are from a Suetomi exhibition catalog.

January: Etogashi
Etogashi, literally ‘Chinese Zodiac confection’.
The concept of the zodiac signs are very familiar to Japanese people and these originated with the Chinese calender. Suetomi makes a New Year’s confection based on the zodiac animal of the year. This is a rat. This year, 2008 is the Year of the Rat.

Eto Nezumi – Year of the Rat

Eto nezumi literally means ‘zodiac rat’.

Eto Nezumi – Year of the Rat

This is a pretty cute rat! And, all made of sweet bean paste.

March: Hikichigiri
The confection is called Hikichigiri and has been indispensable for Girl’s Day (March 3rd). It was once used for the celebration ritual in the Imperial Household. A theory tells that it was originally made of only rice cakes. Suetomi has made it more elaborate and suitable for spring with white and pink on the top of green.

Hikichigiri – Wagashi for Girl’s Day

April: Miyako no Haru
Miyako no Haru, literally ‘Spring in the Capital’.
Kyoto’s spring beauty is in the cherry blossoms, people gathering to enjoy them with a cheerful mood. Here in Kyoto, sweets with various colors representing the colors of new lives entertain people’s tongues and eyes. Here, pink represents cherry blossoms and green represents budding willows.

Miyako-no-haru – Spring in the Capital

Miyako-no-haru – detail

It is incredible what sweet bean paste can be made into!

May: Karakoromo
The confections produced in Kyoto often represent the changing of seasons and the accompanying natural beauty. Karakoromo is based on the classical Japanese story, ‘Ise Story’. This famous poem features purple irises verdant in the month of May.

Karakoromo

June: Sawabe no Hotaru
Sawabe no Hotaru, literally ‘fireflies near water stream’.
Fireflies live near cool, flowing water and these insects emit a greenish light. There are a number of short poems featuring the mystic beauty these insects create. The image here is of a firefly emitting its light while on green grass.

Sawabe-no-hotaru – Fireflies Near Water Stream

Sawabe-no-hotaru – detail


September: Kisewata
Japanese people have celebrated the coming of new seasons on particular days in the year and September 9th is one of them. The chrysanthemum flower is the symbol of this special day. People pray for their long lives sometimes by wiping their bodies with its dew and by drinking Japanese sake with chrysanthemum petals floating in it. This confection is designed from a chrysanthemum flower of high grace.

Kisewata – Chrysanthemum

Kisewata – Chrysanthemum

Kisewata – detail

September: Koringiku
Korin Ogata was a painter active in the Edo period. We can see his paintings done with his excellent skills on kimono patterns and on Japanese paper slide doors, etc. The design of Korin Chrysanthemum, made of azuki bean paste and habutae mochi is based on one of his paintings.

Koringiku – Korin Chrysanthemum

Koringiku – detail

October: Momijiga
In the Momijiga chapter of Japan’s most well known novel, the Tale of Genji is a scene where Prince Genji dances. The design of this confection is inspired by the image of Hikaru Genji dancing in gorgeous clothing. The paper fan that the Shining Prince held while dancing is the motif of this piece.

Momijiga – Maple Leaves

Momijiga – detail

December: Carol
The deep green color, whether of the pine boughs or holly leaves of the season is the symbol of life. Christmas is, of course, a Christian celebration familiar to people all over the world. This Japanese version of Christmas cake is made with the wish to look back on the past year and celebrate the coming of the new year with a purified heart.

Carol – Christmas

Location
Suetomi now has two locations. The original mainstore is located in central Kyoto near the Gojo Station on the Karasuma Subway Line and the other in the food court of Takashimaya Department Store.

Honten – Main Store Front

Suetomi Store Sign

Suetomi Takashimaya Branch

English:
English menu: none
English website: none
Service/Staff: so-so
Hours: 9:00am-5:00pm, closed Sundays and national holidays.
Price: 500-1,000 yen.
Location and Access: 5 to 7 minute walk from either Shijo and Gojo Stations (Karasuma Subway Line)
Address: Kyoto-shi Shimogyo-ku, Matsubara-dori, Muromachi Higashi-iru
(京都市下京区松原通室町東入ル)
Telephone: 075-351-0808

Takashimaya Branch: Takashimaya Department Store is located in central Kyoto at the Shijo-Kawaramachi intersection. Takashimaya is open from 10am to 8pm and is closed on January 1st only. English language guidance and maps are available at the information desk on the ground floor.

Map:

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