Ramen & Noodles · Higashi-Ikebukuro

Higashi-Ikebukuro Taishoken Honten 東池袋 大勝軒 本店

The head shop of Kazuo Yamagishi, the 'god of ramen' who turned a 1955 staff meal into morisoba, the dish the world now calls tsukemen. His Higashi-Ikebukuro shop opened in 1961 and the lineage lives on here.

About

Kazuo Yamagishi devised 'tokusei morisoba', cold noodles dipped in a hot, sweet-sour soy and pork broth, while working at Nakano Taishoken in 1955. In 1961 he opened his own Taishoken in Higashi-Ikebukuro, where his morisoba became so popular that queues snaked around the block for decades and more than a hundred apprentices went on to open shops of their own. The original building closed for redevelopment in 2007; the shop reopened nearby the following year under his disciples, and it has carried the flame since Yamagishi died in 2015. Today's honten serves the classic morisoba with thick, springy noodles, chashu, menma and a half egg, plus chuka soba and richer modern variants. It is the place to taste the dish that launched a global tsukemen craze, in the neighbourhood where it became famous.

Highlights

• Birthplace lineage of tsukemen: Yamagishi's own shop founded 1961
• Classic morisoba with a sweet, tangy, peppery dipping broth
• Generous portions of thick, chewy house-style noodles
• Photos and memorabilia of Yamagishi, the 'god of ramen'
• Soup-wari (broth top-up) to finish the dip as a soup

Tips

• Order the plain morisoba first; the 'nokou' (rich) versions are later additions
• Buy a ticket at the machine and tell staff your noodle size; the standard is large
• Ask for soup-wari at the end to thin and drink the dip
• Closed Wednesdays; mornings right at opening are quietest

Open in Google Maps · Info checked 2026-10-09

Nearby

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