Rokkakuya, one of the "Three Families of Iekei The "Ikekeke Gosanke" "Rokkakuya" is back at the Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum, which opens on April 8!

Yokohama "Rokkakuya 1994+". Revived at Ra Expo on Monday, April 8, 2024

2024.03.29 10:45

新横浜ラーメン博物館

Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum (Kohoku-ku, Yokohama; CEO: Hiroshi Iwaoka) celebrates its 30th anniversary on March 6, 2024. In preparation for the 30th anniversary, the museum launched a project on July 1, 2022 (Friday) to relay the 36 best ramen stores that have opened in the past over the past two years, in the form of a relay. As the finale of this project, Yokohama's "Rokkaku Ie 1994+" will open again on April 8, 2024 (Monday).

Rokkaku-ke" was famous as one of the three most famous Iekei families in Japan. The main restaurant closed in 2017, and the founder passed away in 2010. The revival of Rahaku was a project that was underway when the founder was still alive, and was made possible through the cooperation of the Totsuka branch, the only existing Rokkakuya, and the Hamamatsu Kuramaeya, which was chosen by the founder, Takashi Shinto, by appointment. Please refer to the following for details.

Rokkakuya main visual

History of the Rokkaku Family

The "Rokkaku Family" was famous as one of the three families in the family lineage. The founder of Rokkakuya, Takashi Jindo, worked as an office worker for five years after graduating from high school. He then worked as a Western-style cook for nearly 10 years, and when it came time to open his own restaurant, he decided that he wanted to open a ramen restaurant, which he had always loved, instead of a Western-style restaurant, and apprenticed himself to Yoshimura-ke, the originator of Ie-style ramen. Later, Mr. Kando worked as a manager at Yoshimuraya's second restaurant, "Honmakiya," and after training for a total of seven years, he opened "Rokkakubashi Rokkakubashi" in 1988. He opened the restaurant in Rokkakubashi because there was a busy shopping street (Rokkakubashi Shopping Street) in Yokohama at that time, and he named the place "Rokkakubashi Rokkakuniya" after it.

Founder Takashi Kando

Exterior view of the main Rokkakuniya store (now closed)

Exterior view of the Rokkakuniya Ra-Haku Store (1994)

Later, he opened a store as an opening member of the Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum in 1994, and when he graduated on May 31, 2003, he opened more stores, at most about 10 stores nationwide. Unfortunately, however, he became ill and closed his main store at the end of October 2017, and took bankruptcy proceedings in 2020. Then, on October 5, 2022, Mr. Takashi Jinto passed away. Currently, Mr. Takashi Jinto's younger brother runs a separate business, Rokkakuniya in Totsuka, continuing the history of Rokkakuniya.

*Rokkakushiya Totsuka will be closed from April 1 (Mon.) to May 2 (Thu.) in support of "Rokkakushiya 1994+.

Ra Expo Revival Project

In 2021, when the project to revive the famous restaurant was launched, Mr. Iwaoka, the director of the Ramen Museum, asked Mr. Takashi Kando, "Let's revive Rokkakusokuya at the Ra-Haku once more with this project! However, Mr. Takashi Jinto was not in good health. However, Takashi Jinto had been in poor health, and he said, "I have caused you a lot of trouble, and I cannot do it, but if it is done by my apprentice," and after repeated discussions, Yuji Hakamada of Kuramaeya in Hamamatsu was given the white feather. According to Takashi Kando, "He is an excellent apprentice with outstanding effort and sense, and was allowed to become independent in less than five years. Now he has moved to Hamamatsu and has been running his own restaurant for more than 20 years. He has now moved to Hamamatsu and has been running his own shop for more than 20 years. This project has been started with the cooperation and support of Makoto Jinto (Takashi Jinto's younger brother) and Ayumi Roki (Takashi Jinto's niece) of the Rokkakuya Totsuka store.

Project Members

Mr. Yuji Hakamada, who continues the legacy of the Rokkaku family

Mr. Yuji Hakamada was born in Hamamatsu in 1972. His family runs "Kiraku," a long-established Hamamatsu gyoza (dumpling) restaurant that has been in business since 1974. He visited the Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum to try their delicious ramen, and was shocked by the taste of the "Rokkakuya" ramen he tasted there. One day, while visiting the main store in Rokkakubashi, Yuji Hakamada saw a job posting on the front of the store that said "Urgent Recruitment" and contacted the company immediately without hesitation. Yuji Hakamada became an apprentice at Rokkakuya on March 20, 1996. He started at the main restaurant and later worked at the Rahaku branch as well.

According to Yuji Hakamada, "At that time, the world of Rokkakuya was really tough and most people quit after two or three days, so if there were 10 apprentices, only one would remain. I wanted to become independent as soon as possible, so I entered the store before anyone else and learned the skills. I think the hard work I did then helped me get to where I am today.

Yuji Hakamada's independence was recognized and he opened "Kuramaeya" in Kuramae, Taito-ku, Tokyo in July 2001. According to Yuji Hakamada, "I thought about returning to Hamamatsu, but my parents had enough staff and there were not many Ikebana ramen restaurants in the east side of Tokyo at that time, so I decided to open a restaurant in Kuramae.

Later, in April 2009, the restaurant moved to Hamamatsu, where it remains to this day.

Yuji Hakamada

Exterior of Kuramae House

The ideal soup that Mr. Fujitaka Kami was aiming for

Rokkakuya, the finale of the project, will return as a regular restaurant. The name of the restaurant, "Rokkakuya 1994+," means that the taste of the restaurant has evolved (+) over 30 years of technology and experience from that of 1994, when it first opened at the Ra Expo.

Mr. Hakamada says, "When I received direct instruction from Mr. Kando, the most important things he emphasized were the balance of the bones, and how and when to cook them. If this part changes, the taste will change dramatically. I also place the utmost importance on this." He said. The soup that Mr. Kando was aiming for is a perfect balance of tonkotsu (pork bone) and soy sauce sauce, but it is not easy to achieve. When you get close to the ideal, the soup has a sweetness to it. To further evolve his ideal soup, Hakamada abandoned preconceived notions and began researching from scratch. In order to achieve the ideal cooking method, he changed the method from a small wooden bowl to a cauldron that is more than 1.3 meters long. Using a cauldron improves convection and prevents burning. The wide opening also eliminates the smell of pork. The ingredients used have not changed much from when Mr. Kando was making the soup, but we have been able to get closer to our ideal soup," he says.

Cauldron

Cauldron soup

Yuji Hakamada's Idea of Rokkakuya

Yuji Hakamada's idea of what Rokkakuya is all about is a balance of tonkotsu (pork bone) and shoyu (soy sauce) while maintaining a strong umami flavor. Over the past 20 years, the mainstream of Ie-style ramen has become a type of ramen with a strong soy sauce flavor. I am not in any way denying this trend, but I like the "classic" type of Ikei-Ramen that shocked me the first time I tried it, and since Mr. Kando was pursuing that taste, I am also trying to master that direction through trial and error every day. I am trying to master the taste of that type of ramen.

Unfortunately, Mr. Takashi Kando has passed away, so you will not be able to try the taste of his ramen, but with the cooperation of the descendants of the Totsuka branch, we received his approval for "this concept and this taste".