Kitcho (
Kanji: 吉兆
Hiragana: きっちょう lit. "good omen") is a
kaiseki (Japanese
haute cuisine) restaurant chain group and one of the most famous ones in Japan. It was founded by Teiichi Yuki in 1930 in
Osaka, and today runs restaurants in Osaka,
Kyoto,
Kobe
Kobe ( , ; officially , ) is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture Japan. With a population around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Tokyo and Yokohama. It is located in Kansai region, whic ...
,
Fukuoka and
Tokyo.
Today the Kitcho group consists of five companies, whose headquarters are located in Osaka, Kobe, Kyoto and Tokyo respectively. Among the restaurants they run, the ones in
Koraibashi (Osaka),
Arashiyama (Kyoto) and
Ginza
Ginza ( ; ja, 銀座 ) is a district of Chūō, Tokyo, located south of Yaesu and Kyōbashi, west of Tsukiji, east of Yūrakuchō and Uchisaiwaichō, and north of Shinbashi. It is a popular upscale shopping area of Tokyo, with numerous intern ...
(Tokyo) are especially well known.
Many
politicians
A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...
,
businesspeople and artists are known as frequent customers. As a kaiseki restaurant, catering for the
Japanese tea ceremony
The Japanese tea ceremony (known as or ) is a Japanese cultural activity involving the ceremonial preparation and presentation of , powdered green tea, the procedure of which is called . While in the West it is known as "tea ceremony", it is se ...
is one of its major services. A lunch in the Koraibashi restaurant costs over US$300, and dinner costs over US$400 per person.
History
The founder Teiichi Yuki was also known as an expert in the
Japanese tea ceremony
The Japanese tea ceremony (known as or ) is a Japanese cultural activity involving the ceremonial preparation and presentation of , powdered green tea, the procedure of which is called . While in the West it is known as "tea ceremony", it is se ...
and a great collector of tea utensils, not only dishes for Kaiseki cuisine. He wrote many books about cuisine and tea ceremony. The current
executive chef of Kyoto Arashiyama Kitcho is Kunio Tokuoka (徳岡邦夫), grandson of Teiichi Yuki.
Yuki Museum
In 1987 Teiichi Yuki opened the
Yuki Museum of Art
opened in Chūō-ku, Osaka, Japan, in 1987. The collection, built up by of kaiseki restaurant Kitchō fame, includes twelve Important Cultural Properties and three Important Art Objects.
See also
* Fujita Art Museum
* Masaki Art Museum
...
in Osaka, in the Hiranocho neighborhood, near to the Koraibashi restaurant. Yuki Museum is a small museum but known with its good collection mainly of
tea utensils, including 11
Important Cultural Properties.
Book
''Kitcho: Japan's Ultimate Dining Experience'' was published in 2010 by
Kodansha
is a Japanese privately-held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha is the largest Japanese publishing company, and it produces the manga magazines ''Nakayoshi'', ''Afternoon'', ''Evening'', ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' an ...
USA. The
foreword
A foreword is a (usually short) piece of writing, sometimes placed at the beginning of a book or other piece of literature. Typically written by someone other than the primary author of the work, it often tells of some interaction between the ...
was written by
Thomas Keller, owner of
The French Laundry.
''Kitcho: Japan's Ultimate Dining Experience''
amazon.com
See also
*Ryōtei
A is a type of traditional Japanese restaurant. Traditionally, only accept new customers by referral and feature entertainment by geisha, but in modern times this is not always the case. are typically a place where high-level business or po ...
References
External links
*
Yuki Museum
Restaurants in Japan
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