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Hiranoya Honten-Original Hiranoya Restaurant.
During the Kyoho Era(1716-1736), our ancestor Gondayu Hirano, worked as a gardener at Shoren-in Temple. One day, the head of the temple (a member of the Emperor's family) brought back Chinese potatoes from his trip to Kyushu. Our ancestor replanted them at the foot of Maruyama Hill. The potatoes loved the earth and grew wonderfully. Their shape was just like the shape of shrimps so they were called ebi imo (shrimp potatoes).
Since Kyoto is quite a distance from the ocean, in those days fresh seafood was virtually unavailable. However, people did enjoy and appreciate dried fish. Our ancestor created an original dish with ebi imo and dried cod (bodara). These two ingredients were stewed together in our unique method and were offered for the delight of people with delicate taste.
In time, we were given permission to open a restaurant by Shoren-in, as well as the emblem "Imobo". Since then three hundred years have passed. There have been changes such as the rebuilding of the restaurant one hundred and fifty years ago, but we still keep the noren (shop curtain) with the name "Imobo".
Nowadays people know "Imobo" as one of the renowned dishes of Kyoto. Those who visit Maruyama Park are sure to enjoy the taste of Kyoto.
Even a tree or a stone here are part of the essential nature of Kyoto. So does the sensibility of Kyoto's tongue have ties to this area, closely related with the sprit of Zen.
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Eiji Yoshikawa, a well known Japanese novelist, spoke highly of this restaurant, "the taste which has been handed down from generation to generation for three hundred years and which holds the flavor of three hundred years." No other restaurant can duplicate our taste.
The area around Gion,Maruyama and Kiyomizu, is called Yasaka, where there are many famous historic sites and buildings.
Therefore numerous respected painters and writers have loved this area, finding in it subjects for their works.These beautiful landscapes are at the heart of Higashiyama art.
Please choose our restaurant and enjoy our delicious traditional taste as one of your memories of Kyoto.
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