An encounter by guests and a restaurant is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Plenty of meticulous preparations are essential to address all elements of cuisine-dishes, seasonal arrangement, place, setting and services in order for guests to enjoy the time to the fullest extent possible. Fortunately, Arashiyama is well known as a picturesque place for cherry blossoms and autumnal leaves and the setting of natural environment around there is ideal to enjoy delicious cuisine. However, it might be a good idea to avoid excessive emphasis on Kyoto as the location of our restaurant. My grandfather handed Arashiyama KITCHO down to my father and my father automatically did the same to me. But of prime importance to me is whether or not I will be able to make full use of the legacy. In order to accomplish this, I strive to do my best.

Desire and passion to make delicious food are shared among all top-ranking restaurants in the world. Those chefs and I share the same desire and passion. However, the mere sight of dish doesn’t help us immediately put our finger on the desire and passion for cuisine.
For instance, the cuisine at Kitcho is “delicious” from the moment a reservation is made because guests are very excited about coming to our restaurant.
The excitement derives from their confidence in the brand “KITCHO." I feel grave responsibility all the more to respond to expectations from guests. That’s why we have to welcome guests with the warmest sincerity. Those who welcome our guests are not only employees of our restaurant including attendants who take care of guests’ shoes, chefs, waiters and waitresses but also producers of various foodstuffs used in our restaurant. Kyoto KITCHO is making every possible effort to measure up to expectations of guests, making the most of advanced technology like the Internet. All of our efforts converge to the one great end of providing “Delicious” to guests which is the essence of hospitality and taken for granted.

So-called Japanese cuisines of today were established after the Meiji era（1868-1912）. Since eating is basic behavior of human being, not so much difference has been noted in respect of desire for food among people in spite of slight difference in geography. A claim to the effect that Japanese cuisines should be prepared in strict conformance with the Japanese cooking style will lead to lack of flexibility in our cuisines.

There are a lot of theories about the origin of Japanese cuisine. One of the theories traces the origin of Japanese cuisines back to highly ritualized honzen ryori（full course haute cuisine） established in Momoyama/Edo era（16 to 19 century）. Kaiseki is a simplified form of honzen ryori and evolved with the development of tea ceremony. Currently, various food stuffs are coming to this country and new food preparation styles are coming into being. As a result of this, cuisines are evolving as an art. For example, when mackerel was prepared as sashimi or sliced raw, the fish had to be previously salted for preservation before the fish arrived at cities but advanced logistics networks of today have made it possible to deliver the fresh foodstuff from the sea to the kitchen. The changes of society and technology are impacting significantly on all aspects of cuisines. At the present days when a slight and delicate taste of each foodstuff is directly put on the plate from the earth and the sea, the cuisines can go back to the place where the foodstuff comes from. Everything from the seasoning to sake used in our restaurant is specially made for the dish in our restaurant. Vegetables and fruit for our restaurant are of the highest quality cultivated by organic farming. Flesh crops harvested in farms come directly comes to our restaurant and we go to farms to check the quality of crops and decide the menu.