RAMEN and YOSHIE OSHIMA

Do you like ramen? I guess so, because ramen is a very popular food today. Worldwide! It is served in various modified forms, even vegetarian, and they are all popular. People often associate ramen with Japanese gastronomy, but ramen originated elsewhere in Asia. At the Ramen Museum in Yokohama Port, they say that ramen, a noodle soup, became popular in Japan with the arrival of Chinese immigrants at the end of the 19th century. They brought it with them as their favorite food, food that would fill them up. Folk food. Cheap food. Yes, the home of the thick meat broth with wheat noodles and roasted pork chashu is in China, not Japan. And interestingly enough ramen came to us in Miyabi via Korea, or more precisely through the owner of the ramen restaurant Kahou, who is originally Korean.

Mrs. Yoshie Oshima, after whom our annual Yoshie Ramen festival is named, came to us from Kyoto and her name is typically Japanese, but her parents came to Japan from Korea. Yoshie carries her Korean identity through life as a bit of a burden. She told me that she always felt like a second-class citizen in Kyoto. However, Yoshie is not ashamed of her origin; on the contrary, she turned it into her strength. In order to send her only son to study law, she decided to open a bistro and cook what she knows and feels best – ramen. The enterprising Mrs. Yoshie fulfilled her dream. Her son successfully completed his studies and, what’s more, her restaurant became known even abroad. Japanologist and Buddhist monk Robin Shóen Heřman even called Mrs. Yoshie the patron saint of Czech artists, especially the Czech Philharmonic. Here is an excerpt from Robin’s text for the book A Window into Centuries of Czech-Japanese Relations: The small bistro, where Mr. and Mrs. Oshima prepares their original ramen noodle dish becomes the important spot for the Czech musicians in Kyoto and neighboring places, who became short of money or desired to eat something at least a bit familiar, and gradually the clientele is widened and widened. (by the way, in 2005 during their stay in Kyoto, the Schola Gregoriana Pragensis paid for their ramen bills with singing). And so, when Ikeda informs the Óshimas that a partnership between Kyoto and Prague has been  concluded and that he himself goes to Prague together with the mayor as an official documentary filmmaker (at that time he already runs the cultural news section at Kyoto TV KBS), the Óshimas spontaneously suggest that they like to join too and that they would bring to Prague as a gift to the people of Prague 100 servings of noodles and cook their ramen and give it for free. Darja Kawasumi, who has recently opened her Miyabi restaurant, likes the idea and agrees to work out this together. Through this ramen project she becomes close to the Oshimas to the extend that her son Vítek goes to Kyoto and trains in Kahou how to make ramen. Thanks to this the Yoshie Ramen Days in Miyabi becomes an annual commemoration of the anniversary of the Kyoto-Prague partnership and its authentic fulfillment – and, of course it celebrates also the unique personalities of the Óshima family. Unfortunately, the bistro finally closed its door a few years ago. “

Too bad that the Kahou restaurant no longer exists. You could find it in the middle of ancient temples in a city where there are still a lot of old shops and where you can buy miso, tofu or tsukemono directly from the manufacturer, who typically lives in the same house. The walls of Kahou bistro were covered with newspaper clippings about the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra or the Japanese restaurant Miyabi in Prague. It was surprising to see it when you came in. It pleased. The restaurant had only five seats right at the counter, on the opposite side of which was the cooking place. There were large pots with broth and another with hot water in which portions of noodles were prepared. There was also an iron plate on which the gyoza were made. Nothing else but ramen and gyoza was served in Kahou. Customers received also water or warm green tea. Everything was very simple. Plane. Only a large bowl of candies was a bit fancy. While eating, a neighbor, a schoolboy, or a schoolgirl peeked their heads through the door curtain noren, and Mrs. Oshima greeted them and offered candy. She loudly declared that her restaurant was serving vitamin Ai, which is a word for love in Japanese, and her joy and optimism was contagious and passed on to all who stopped.

To be able to make living, the husband Óshima had a second job in the evening collecting used wooden chopsticks for recycling. Not being rich has not stopped Mrs. Oshima, a deep Christian believer, to take tithes to the church throughout her business. She went to Catholic Mass every day. She was sitting on the church bench before six in the morning, her bike parked in front of the church. Then she went swimming to the IMCA pool and from there she biked to her favorite cafe on Teramachi Street for toast and coffee. When I arrived in Kyoto unannounced, I knew I would catch her there between eight and nine. Then she hurried to Kahou. Her husband had been preparing the broth since early morning, then they took turns for a while so that he can rest and together opened right at eleven. The same ritual every day. For decades. The only days they closed the door of their Kahou bistro was when they went to Prague to Miyabi to cook ramen for the people of Prague.

When Yoshie said she was cooking vitamin Ai, it really was so, and I always wanted to be like her. Also, I have always wanted Miyabi chefs to cook vitamin Ai. The name Oshima (Oushima) means Great (ou) and Island (shima). So, she is our Mrs. Big Island. I wish there are around us more people like Mrs. Yoshie Oshima. Yoshie san, thank you!

This April we are cooking ramen at Miyabi again and we invite you to try her delicious ramen with vitamin Ai during the three Yoshie Ramen Days. Enjoy!

Your Miyabi Darja