Yoshihiro Murata was born in 1951 as the oldest son in the Kikunoi family. As a student at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto he was a member of the golf club, a sport that he still adores but does not allow himself to play as it may affect his work. He travelled to France during his university years with the intention of studying French cuisine but was instead awakened to the beauty of Japanese cuisine. After graduating from university, Murata trained for three years at the Nagoya Japanese restaurant Kamome, before returning to Kyoto in 1976 to open his own restaurant, the present-day Roan Kikunoi. The tiny six-seat counter-only restaurant was uncomfortably quiet at first, and Murata spent hours poring over cookbooks of Japanese, Chinese and Western cuisine to pass the time. But within three years, the tide had totally turned, and it was impossible to get a seat.

Since 1993, Murata has served as the head chef at the Kikunoi main restaurant, the third generation in his family to do so. He puts all his efforts into sharing the goodness of Japanese cuisine with the world, bringing new, flexible thinking to traditional cuisine. In 2004 he opened Akasaka Kikunoi, and in 2017 the latest addition to the group was made with the opening of the more casual Mugesanbo or Salon de Muge just next to the original Kikunoi.

In 2012 he was honored as a “modern artisan” by the Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare, and in 2013 Kyoto awarded Murata with an award for distinguished service to culture. Murata has authored countless publications on Japanese cuisine and Kyoto culture, and he currently supervises the Singapore Airlines inflight menu alongside British chef Gordon Ramsay.

Despite being busy with activities that reach the breadth of the globe, Murata also accepts invitations for television appearances, so long as they relate to cooking. He feels that more important than visiting Japanese restaurants is eating Japanese cuisine at home every day, and he would love to share his wife’s cooking more broadly with the world. There is always a great response to the recipes he shares, loved for their simplicity and great flavors.

Murata divides his time evenly each month between Kyoto and Tokyo, with some overseas business trips in between. You would think this would leave very little time for socializing, but Murata values his friendships deeply, and is especially close to French Chef Alain Ducasse, who has dined at Kikunoi on many occasions. Movie director, actress and designer Sofia Coppola also looks forward to her visits to Japan to dine at Kikunoi and meet with Chef Murata.

VISION
Chef Murata’s greatest motivation is to “make cuisine culture”, and he pursues that goal in countless ways. Murata is indispensable in the world of Japanese cuisine and one of the best at expounding on its qualities. He was a major contributor in washoku traditional Japanese cuisine being recognized by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage. He is also the president of the Japanese Culinary Academy and can often be found presenting not just in Japanese, but in a handful of foreign languages. In addition, it was Murata’s urging that led Kyoto to implement a fully Japanese menu for school lunch, confident that it forms the best foundation for food education. In recent years, Murata has been engaged in the creation of a testing and evaluation system for Japanese cuisine, allowing chefs to prove their skills even if they have never worked at a famous restaurant. The goal is to ensure a strong pool of chefs who can take authentic Japanese cuisine to the next generation. Murata’s kitchen shows great international flair, manned by four to five foreign chefs from the US, UK, Korea, and other countries at any one time. The service staff are extremely well-versed in English and some are also fluent in Chinese. Clearly, Murata is building a firm foundation in many different ways to ensure the transmission of the culture of Japanese cuisine to future Japanese generations and to people around the world.
TABLEWARE