# Rokusaburo Michiba

Rokusaburo Michiba (道場 六三郎, Michiba Rokusaburō; born January 3, 1931) is a renowned Japanese chef, best known as the first Japanese Iron Chef on the popular television series Iron Chef. He was part of the show from its debut in 1993 until his retirement on his 65th birthday in 1996.

## Career as Iron Chef

Although Michiba is a Japanese chef, he is known for incorporating non-Japanese elements into his dishes. In his first battle against Yousei Kobayakawa (French cuisine trained), Michiba was given foie gras as a theme ingredient, which he subsequently won.
Michiba was also known for "Inochi no Dashi" (命の出汁, いのちのだし or "Broth of Vigor"), a combination of katsuobushi, skipjack tuna shavings, and edible kelp (konbu), which he used in almost every battle.

### Awards and records

Despite being the most senior of the Iron Chefs, he holds the Kitchen Stadium record for the most dishes prepared in a single battle: eight.

### Hobbies

Michiba was also interested in calligraphy, often using the start of a battle to write a menu. On occasion, he forgot to write the menu, or wrote it at the last moment, which led to him losing multiple battles. In an episode where his sous-chef challenged Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto, Michiba explained that he wrote his menus to clarify what he wanted to present and to inform his assistants which ingredients to gather and prepare.

### Illness and retirement

Michiba's tenure was interrupted by an illness in mid-1995 that left him briefly hospitalized. Afterwards, he began getting tired from the stress of appearing on the show and running his three restaurants: Poisson Rokusaburo in Akasaka, Ginza Rokusan-tei, and Kaishoku-Michiba in Ginza. The addition of a 4th Judge only worsened the Overtime Battles.
According to Takeshi Kaga, after deciding to retire, Rokusaburo Michiba vowed to recruit his successor himself. The show continued with just French Iron Chef Hiroyuki Sakai and Chinese Iron Chef Chen Kenichi for two months. Koumei Nakamura was appointed as his successor, initially refusing, but later accepting. Nakamura's first battle was on March 1, 1996, against French chef Kiyoshi Suzuki. During the introduction of the theme ingredient of the day, Chairman Kaga stated that he wanted to choose foie gras because he wanted to partially re-create Michiba's first victory by using the same ingredient.
Michiba was also supportive of Nakamura's successor, Masaharu Morimoto, who also frequently used non-Japanese ingredients. The show often referred to the relationship between Michiba and Morimoto as that between master and student, especially after an episode where Michiba flew to New York to visit Morimoto's restaurant, Nobu. Before Morimoto's New York battle with chef Bobby Flay, Michiba gave Morimoto a large box of Katsuobushi flakes with a message: "respect the old but seek out the new."

### Subsequent appearances

Michiba made appearances throughout the 2012 revival ("Ryouri no Tetsujin Dream Match! World Iron Chef Live Battle Special") of Iron Chef through interviews with former assistant Kenichi Miyanaga, a seat on the tasting panel, and as a competitor against new Iron Chef Jun Kurogi.

### Iron Chef tie-in events

In 2017, Michiba participated in an Iron Chefs All Star Dinner event at Australia’s Sydney Opera House.

## Career outside Iron Chef

Michiba has operated several restaurants across Japan. The most notable of these is Kaishoku Machiba in the Ginza district of Tokyo. As of 2022, Michiba was still running these restaurants at the age of 91.

## Manga

The manga series Kandō Ō Retsuden featured a story about Michiba in volume 2, named "Michiba Rokusaburō Monogatari". It was compiled by Yasuo Negishi and illustrated by Yoshihiro Takahashi.