birth_place article_title birth_date style
kaga , ishikawa prefecture , japan rokusaburo michiba
 03 january 1931 japanese cuisine
rokusaburo michiba

according to his introduction , rokusaburo michiba was once considered a maverick for his philosophy of `` there are no borders to ingredients . ''
although primarily a japanese chef , michiba was unafraid of incorporating decidedly non-japanese elements into his dishes -- something that did not sit well with more traditional-minded japanese cuisine chefs .
indeed , in his first battle against french cuisine-trained kobayakawa yousei , michiba was given a theme ingredient virtually foreign to japanese cuisine : foie gras .
michiba was declared the winner .
in fact , of his outstanding career win-loss record of thirty-two wins , five losses , and one tie , he , arguably , can take some personal and professional satisfaction that his record against the traditionalists is a fine ten wins and one loss .
michiba 's trademark was `` inochi no dashi '' -lrb- 命の出汁 ; いのちのだし or `` broth of vigour '' , -rrb- a combination of plenty of katsuobushi , skipjack tuna shavings and a form of edible kelp called `` konbu , '' which he used during virtually every battle .
he is also widely credited with introducing mayonnaise into japanese cuisine .
michiba was also skilled in calligraphy , often using precious minutes , usually at the beginning of a battle , to write a menu .
on one occasion , however , michiba forgot to write a menu and lost a battle ; on another occasion , he did it at the last moment and lost as well .
in an episode where his sous-chef challenged iron chef masaharu morimoto , michiba explained that he wrote out his menu partly to clarify what he wanted to present , and partly to inform his assistants so that they would know which ingredients to gather and prepare .
several challengers also wrote out their menus during their battle ; commentators referred to this as `` taking a page out of iron chef michiba 's book . ''
his imaginative mind and skills allowed him to , on occasion , finish a battle earlier than expected and prepare extra dishes .
despite being the oldest of the iron chefs , he holds the kitchen stadium record for most dishes in a battle : eight .
in each contest , he would also try to create one dish that an ordinary person could duplicate without specialized equipment or knowledge .
because of his age , experience , and excellent time management skills , rokusaburo michiba was regarded as the senior iron chef .
his `` borderless japanese cuisine '' is often not only considered to be neo-japanese in style , but a precursor to neo-japanese cuisine .
michiba 's tenure was interrupted by an illness in mid-1995 that briefly hospitalized him , and afterwards , although his cooking form was as good as ever , he began tiring from the stress of appearing on the show and running his three restaurants : poisson rokusaburo in akasaka , and ginza rokusan-tei and kaishoku-michiba in ginza .
it only worsened during overtime battles which were made possible by the addition of a fourth judge .
according to takeshi kaga , after his decision to retire , rokusaburo michiba vowed to personally recruit his successor .
the show continued with just iron chef french hiroyuki sakai and iron chef chinese chen kenichi for two months .
but , finally , it was announced that michiba had completed his mission with the naming of koumei nakamura .
`` all my instincts told me he was the one , '' said michiba .
initially , nakamura refused , but was convinced to accept .
nakamura 's first battle on march 1 , 1996 was against french chef kiyoshi suzuki .
during the introduction of the theme ingredient of the day , chairman kaga stated that he could not resist choosing foie gras , wanting to relive some of the magic of michiba 's first victory using the same ingredient .
michiba was also extremely supportive of nakamura 's successor , masaharu morimoto .
inarguably , morimoto took michiba 's `` no borders to ingredients '' philosophy to a different level .
the show often referred to the relationship between michiba and morimoto as that between master and student , especially after an episode when michiba flew to new york to visit morimoto 's restaurant , nobu .
so supportive of morimoto was michiba that , before his infamous new york battle with chef bobby flay , michiba gave morimoto a large box of katsuobushi flakes with a hand-calligraphed message : `` respect the old , but seek out the new . ''
michiba made appearances throughout the 2012 revival of `` iron chef '' through interviews on former assistant kenichi miyanaga , a seat on the tasting panel and as a competitor against new iron chef jun kurogi in the revival 's 2012 `` ryouri no tetsujin dream match !
world iron chef live battle special . ''
