In Japan, Kazuo Yamagishi is a man who was known as “The God of Ramen” and also the man responsible for creating tsukemen, a ramen dish in which noodles are eaten after being dipped in a separate bowl of soup or broth.
For Yamagishi, right after World War II, he moved away from Nagano prefecture to Tokyo where he worked on a printing machine at a factory. But on December 31, 1951 (Showa 26), his cousin Sakaguchi Masayasu asked him to help open and manage a ramen shop he was starting called Taishoken. And while he manages, Sakaguchi was on his way to creating another Taishoken at Shibuya, Yoyogi Uehara.
And at this store is where he got the idea of Tsukemen. He got the idea after seeing staff eating cold leftover noodles after dipping them in a cup of hot soup.
Yamagishi would take leftover noodles from the bamboo baskets to boil in his kitchen and he would dip them in a special soup consisting of soy sauce and sweet vinegar. His customers saw this and they wanted to try it.
Yamagishi decided to give it a try with the name “special morisoba” (which would be known as “tsukemen”) and sold it for 40 yen. And Tsukemen was born at Taishoken in Nakano!
So popular, the dish that it is now being offered today at tens of thousands of restaurants in Japan and worldwide.
But Sakaguchi Mitsuo, son of Taishoken founder Sakaguchi Masayasu said in a 2017 interview that tsukemen was eaten by the staff at Taishoken, so they put it on the menu. The birthplace of tsukemen was at Nakano Taishoken, Yamagishi put it on the menu to make customers happy.
But while there are Taishoken restaurants around the world, around Japan, there is the original Taishoken restaurant founded by Sakaguchi Masayasu.
But the restaurant that would put Taishoken on the map and would earn Yamagishi the name “God of Ramen” was the Higashi-Ikebukuro Taishoken which was founded by Yamagishi in 1961 (Showa 36).
Yamagishi worked hard developing his signature and famous broth, doing this while in pain as repeated stress would lead to painful varicose veins in his legs in his twenties. He would have to have surgery to help alleviate the pain in his 40’s, which affected him and his health.
But the lowpoint for Yamagishi despite the popularity of his store was when his wife passed away in 1986.
Having to close the restaurant for seven months, many customers wanted Taishoken to come back. Many people left notes for Taishoken to please come back as they missed his ramen/tsukemen. Yamagishi had said he lost his will to live but after reading these messages, he was moved by his customer’s passion and for decades, Yamagishi has always made Taishoken not just about the food but also about the customers.
Yamagishi Kazuo “God of Ramen” knew that in order to keep his famous ramen/tsukemen continuing into the future, he would need to teach others his technique and these others became his apprentice. Yamagishi trained over a hundred apprentices and he looked at his apprentices as his own children and when they left to create their own shops, he would support them and never asked for any royalties.
Unfortunately, with redevelopment in the Higashi-Ikebukuro area, his original restaurant had to shut down on March 20, 2007. Yamagishi knew it was time to retire but if Taishoken restaurant in Higashi-Ikebukuro would make its return, who would do it?
And thus, the search of a successor began and it would be a battle between his apprentices who had went on to create their own ramen restaurants.
The successor chosen was Iino Toshihiko, Yamagishi’s leading apprentice that he personally chosen to continue the Taishoken legacy in Higashi-Ikebukuro.
Iino, under the supervision of Yamagishi, would open the new main Taishoken restaurant in Higashi-Ikebukuro just 100 meters (about 110 yards) away from the original shop. And for years, even though he was retired, Yamagishi would come each morning to taste the broth and comment about it, he would also greet patrons while he sat in front of the shop.
Yamagishi died of heart failure on April 1, 2015 at the age of 80. Iino had said when he visited Yamagishi at the hospital, he would talk while he was dazed as if he was greeting his customers and thanking them.
His ramen served with quality pork stock and chicken stock with a soy sauce broth and a taste that people love continues to be sold at Taishoken restaurants. BUT….
While many were apprentice of Yamagishi, each Taishoken restaurant are not the same. They are not like McDonalds, Wendy’s or some franchise restaurant. These are restaurants which apprentices created with the blessing of Yamagishi and some have found their own style and have tweaked the taste.
This has led to infighting and a division among the Taishoken apprentices
Since Yamagishi’s death, there are now three groups promoting Taishoken. Iino Toshihiko runs the main Higashi-Ikebukuro restaurant, he now makes the decision of who can be official “Higashi-Ikebukuro” restaurants and his restaurants showcase the Higashi-Ikeburo name and Yamagishi seal.
Then there is Taisho-ken Aji to Kokoro o Mamorukai who are apprentices who formed a group for the purpose of helping each other to improve their minds and the taste and to work hard and cooperate with each other.
Those who were members of that group who opposed restaurant masters on creating their own taste and people who were not apprentices for Yamagishi using the Taishoken name and so they created their own group, Ochanomizu Taishōken headed by Yamagishi apprentice,Tauchigawa Shinsuke.
Tauchigawa had said, Yamagishi told him before his death, “I’m counting on you to carry on. Please preserve the taste of Higashi-Ikebukuro” and for Tauchigawa, that means no changing or tweaking and honoring Yamagishi’s words of preserving the Yamagishi’s style and the original taste.
This has led to the division among the apprentices who recognize Iino as the successor as selected by Yamagishi and carrying on Yamagishi’s legacy and those loyal to Tauchigawa for carrying on Yamagishi’s words of preserving the taste of Higashi-Ikebukuro Taishoken.
One of the oldest ramen organizations “Marunoichi Norenkai” is led by Taishoken founder Sakaguchi Masayasu’s son Mitsuo, who carries on the tradition of Taishoken and is open for owners developing their own taste on their own with no restraints. After all, Yamagishi did the same thing when he left Taishoken in Nakano and when he started the Higashi-Ikebukuro Taishoken, he used a different soup/broth from the Nakano restaurant. Sakaguchi Mitsuo said in an interview, the original Taishoken of Nakano and even their second Taishoken, the Yoyogi Uehara Taishoken in Shibuya were different.
In Inno’s defense, he discussed the pressure of running the main Taishoken store and also admitted the anger of regulars due to the differences of taste. Inno had said the business hours were now twice as long than what master was doing, so there is a difference of the soup from morning to afternoon and soup in the evening.
Inno Toshihiko said he had no choice but to adjust the taste because the morning soup and the night soup were not the same and the taste is always changing and said he this is the same for any restaurant, when the soup changes when you cook it for a long time throughout the day, the amino acids in the soup start to lessen and once you get towards the evening, you need to adjust it.
Inno also said that there are various forms of tweaking that taste throughout the day but he wants to protect the taste made by his master without changing it. He wants the next generation of children to eat and enjoy the taste of Higashi-Ikebukuro Taishoken, from the elderly to the children. He also said its important for the restaurant to stay in Higashi-Ikebukuro and continue to make the noodles filled with the spirit of his master forever.
There is also the Taishoken Maruichi group created by Yamagishi’s last apprentice (and unlike the Taishoken name which was never trademarked, Taishoken Maruichi has a registered trademark) and I’m sure there are many more Taishoken that are not part of the above group’s as well.
It does get confusing because when people think Taishoken, they think of Yamagishi. It’s best to think about Taishoken as one that originated from Nakano, Higashi-Ikebukuro Taishoken established by Yamagishi and other Taishoken which are either from Nakano by name or the apprentices of Yamagishi who continued on with the Taishoken name.
There is a Taishoken USA, but this is not affiliated with Higashi-Ikebukuro Taishoken, but more closely to Nakano Taishoken, as it is run by Sakaguchi Mitsuo (son of Masayasu, founder of Taishoken) and Sakaguchi Yoshihiro (grandson of Masayasu).
So, it does get confusing as not all Taishoken are the same.
Nevertheless, it has led a few patrons trying to show loyalty to one restaurant group over the other, especially if there are differences of taste from what Yamagishi created. Is there a difference? One went to try both opposing Taishoken restaurants, Higashi-Ikebukuro Taishoken and Ochanomizu Taishoken in his article for Excite.
My feeling is for anyone traveling to Japan for ramen, it’s best to leave the politics to those involved and for those who are foodies or ramen heads, to enjoy these restaurants and make your own decision on whether or not you like that restaurant’s food or not. Do not get caught in the infighting and having to choose sides.
May it be at a Taishoken, Ramen Jiro or another ramen restaurant with multiple restaurants, I believe there are always going to be slight differences.
As one can expect the same type of taste of a normal burger at McDonald’s, may you be at a restaurant in the USA, Europe, Asia, etc, don’t expect that for ramen. There is such a complexity in the making of the soup/broth for ramen, especially to retain the flavor from early morning to evening. I can easily say that I’ve tried different Taishoken restaurants and there are differences from the soup to even the chashu.
If there is good news and ray of light in all this, it’s the fact is that both sides are respectful towards Yamagishi’s vision. Just different ideas of operation.
