| Rokusaburo Michiba | |
| Birth Date: | 3 January 1931 |
| Birth Place: | Kaga, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan |
| Known For: | Iron Chef |
| Style: | Japanese cuisine |
| Restaurants: | Ginza Rokusan-tei, and Kaishoku-Michiba in Ginza |
| Television: | Iron Chef |
| Website: | http://www.michiba.com/ |
is a Japanese cuisine chef best known as the first Japanese Iron Chef on the television series Iron Chef. He was on the show from its inception in 1993 until his retirement on his 65th birthday, January 3, 1996.
Although Michiba was a Japanese chef, he was known for his philosophy of incorporating non-Japanese traditional elements into his dishes. Michiba was given foie gras as a theme ingredient in his first battle against Yousei Kobayakawa (French cuisine trained), which Michiba 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 during almost every battle.
Despite being the oldest of the Iron Chefs, he holds the Kitchen Stadium record for most dishes in a battle: 8 (Eight).
Michiba was also interested in calligraphy, often using the beginning of a battle to write a menu. However, he did lose some battles because he forgot to write the menu, or wrote it at last moments. In a particular episode where his sous-chef challenged Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto, Michiba justified that he wrote from his (Morimoto's) menu to clarify what he wanted to present, and to inform his assistants so that they can know which ingredients to gather and prepare. Several challengers also wrote out their menus during their battle
Michiba's tenure was interrupted by an illness in mid-1995 that briefly hospitalized him, and afterwards, he began getting tired 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. Addition of a 4th Judge only worsened the Overtime Battles.
According to Takeshi Kaga, after his decision 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, Nakamura refused, but later on, he accepted. 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 re-create partially Michiba's first victory by using the same ingredient.
Michiba was also extremely supportive of Nakamura's successor, Masaharu Morimoto, which also frequently used non-Japanese traditional 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 his 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 ("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.
The manga series Kandō Ō Retsuden featured a story about Michiba in volume 2, named "Michiba Rokusaburō Monogatari". It was Compiled by Yasuo Negishi, as illustrated by Yoshihiro Takahashi.[1]
. Yasuo Negishi . Yoshihiro Takahashi . Kandō Ō Retsuden 2: Michiba Rokusaburō Monogatari . Shōnen Sunday Comics . 15 July 1998 . Japan . 101–190 . 4-09-125412-8.