Umami History: Kyoto Chef Murata Worked to Share Japan’s Scientific Culinary Secret with the World

By Ritsuko Inokuma / The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:00 JST, April 26, 2026

Yoshihiro Murata, the third-generation chef/owner of the Kyoto ryotei restaurant Kikunoi, is a focus of admiration from the world’s leading chefs. A key figure in securing washoku cuisine’s 2013 designation as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO, Murata has dedicated himself to the evolution of Japanese cuisine through a persistent spirit of challenge and innovation. The Yomiuri Shimbun recently ran a 30-part series called “Jidai no Shogensha” (Witness to the times), in which Murata looked back on his 74 years of life. This is the first installment of a two-part digest of the series.

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“Babies raised on breast milk would not survive if they were to lose their appetite for it,” Kyoto chef Yoshihiro Murata said. “The secret to keeping them nourished lies in the milk’s composition of lipids, saccharides and umami.”

He explained that these substances stimulate the brain’s pleasure centers, creating a sense of delight and a desire for more. “This same trio of components,” he pointed out, “is found in abundance in ramen, which is popular all over the world.”

“While many cuisines, such as French, are built around lipids, washoku is fundamentally different, as it is based on umami,” Murata said. He noted that using dashi broth made from kombu seaweed and dried bonito flakes — the primary sources of umami — creates healthy, low-calorie dishes that look simple but possess incredible depth.

According to Murata, this paradox fascinates overseas chefs. “They are dying to know,” he said, “how we achieve such richness [without the fat].”

Umami is a basic taste, along with sweetness, sourness, saltiness and bitterness. It is the savory, broth-like flavor produced by glutamic acid, an amino acid found in kombu, and inosinic acid, nucleotides found in katsuobushi dried bonito flakes.

Prof. Kikunae Ikeda of Tokyo Imperial University (now the University of Tokyo) identified glutamic acid as the source of umami and patented a method for producing it as a seasoning in 1908. Today, umami is recognized as a universal term.

“While washoku’s umami-based foundation is something Japan should take pride in, we Japanese often fail to see its true value,” Murata said. He confessed that it took a stint in France in his 20s — having fled his home to avoid inheriting his family’s ryotei restaurant — to finally realize its importance. “I was a complete spoiled brat,” he joked.

Founded in 1912, the Kikunoi Honten restaurant in Kyoto, currently led by Murata as its third-generation chef/owner, has maintained a three-star rating in the Michelin Guide Kyoto and Osaka since the book’s inaugural 2009 edition.

Murata described his younger self as a handful — a mischievous boy who was always up to no good. Having heard that a fire engine would come to a halt if it encountered someone lying in the road, he decided to put it to the test and successfully stopped one. “I was completely out of control,” he said, reflecting on his wild childhood.

“I grew up constantly being told, ‘You’re the one taking over,’ but by the time I was a university student, the prospect of life as the restaurant’s future proprietor began to feel like a suffocating weight,” Murata recalled.

“I simply wanted to run away. When I told my father I wanted to become a French chef instead of following the path of washoku, he told me immediately and sharply: ‘Do as you like. If it’s French cuisine you want, I’ll provide the funds — so go to the source and start tomorrow.’”

Faced with his own challenge, Murata said he had no choice but to follow through and departed for Paris in 1973.

A major turning point arrived during Murata’s time in Paris. He recalled that a French person once told him that he had tried sushi and soba, and thought the Japanese diet seemed to consist of nothing but carbohydrates. Then, when the person told Murata that Japan lacked a sophisticated culinary culture on par with that of France, he thought that was totally wrong.

“Japan has culturally high-quality cuisine, such as kaiseki. I thought I wanted to spread the appeal of washoku to the whole world. That moment became my catalyst, and it has remained my life’s work ever since,” he said.

After spending about six months in France, Murata returned to Japan and began his formal training in Japanese cuisine after graduating from university. In 1990, as part of his ongoing mission to promote washoku on the global stage, the Shibata Japanese cuisine study group, of which Murata was a member, hosted a formal Japanese dinner in Paris, he said.

The guests included famous French chefs such as Alain Chapel and Pierre Troisgros, as well as food critic and journalist Henri Gault.

“I wanted them to experience something authentic, so I flew in live hamo pike conger and even our own water from Japan. Those efforts paid off, and the event was a resounding success,” Murata recalled.

“But instead of celebrating, I felt deeply discouraged afterward. Why? Because to serve just 60 guests, I had to transport more than a ton of supplies. I realized then that if this was what it took, washoku would never truly spread across the globe.”

But he could not bring himself to give up. He noted that he had to find a way to create authentic Japanese dishes using local water and salt, and to achieve this, he believed a scientific perspective was essential.

In 2004, he established the Japanese Culinary Academy with chefs and food researchers and began researching matters such as protein coagulation temperatures, dehydration mechanisms and the relationship between water hardness and dashi. He said they aimed to approach deliciousness through science.

The sum of calcium and magnesium decides whether water is hard or soft. Water hardness can be expressed in the concentration of calcium carbonate.

“Water hardness varies significantly by region,” Murata noted, pointing out that while Tokyo averages about 60 milligrams per liter (mg/L), Kyoto is even softer at about 40 mg/L. He explained that Evian, a water brand that is about 300 mg/L, is unsuitable for extracting dashi. In contrast, Volvic is a viable option for Japanese cuisine because it has a water hardness of 60 mg/L — a rarity for water sourced from Europe.

To promote the appeal of washoku to the world, Murata traveled to nearly 30 countries to teach the cuisine’s basics and its philosophy. In 2005, he started a project to invite overseas chefs to Japan.

The list of visitors has included Rene Redzepi of Denmark’s Noma and Mauro Colagreco of France’s Mirazur — both restaurants have ranked No. 1 in the World’s 50 Best Restaurants and were subsequently inducted into the “Best of the Best” hall of fame.

“Neither Rene nor Mauro was famous at that time,” Murata recalled. “But it was a turning point when they realized that umami and dashi are the very heart of washoku.”

Having mastered the essence of dashi, he noted, they began crafting dishes without relying on cream or butter — an approach that has since evolved into a dominant global trend.

Kyle Connaughton, the chef/owner of the Michelin three-star restaurant SingleThread in the United States, deeply resonates with and understands Japanese cuisine, according to Murata.

Last year, Colagreco, Connaughton and Chudaree “Tam” Debhakam — chef/owner of the two-Michelin-star restaurant Baan Tepa in Thailand — participated in a culinary event in Japan organized by the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry and other entities. “All these chefs own their own farms and share a deep commitment to sustainable food practices,” he said.

“Washoku is a cuisine that aligns perfectly with the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals,” Murata said.

He explained that because the foundation of washoku is fish and vegetables, it results in lower greenhouse gas emissions. He also noted its significantly lower calorie count compared to French food and other cuisines. With health consciousness and environmental awareness rising globally, Murata believes the potential for washoku to expand its reach remains immense.

During his visit to Japan, Connaughton noted that a growing number of chefs are eager to study Japanese ingredients and techniques. Murata expressed his belief that washoku will continue to expand its global influence, particularly through its relevance to sustainability.

Colagreco suggested that the aroma, clarity and simplicity inherent in Japanese cuisine will likely continue to fascinate the world and further drive its evolution.

To promote the appeal of washoku to the world, Murata also worked toward its registration as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Yoshihiro Murata – Kikunoi Chef / Owner

Murata was born in 1951 in Kyoto Prefecture. After graduating from Ritsumeikan University, he took over as the third-generation chef/owner of Kikunoi in 1993. In 2018, he received the Medal with Yellow Ribbon and was designated a Person of Cultural Merit. He is currently the honorary chairman of the Japanese Culinary Academy and the All Japan Food Association.