Hisato Nakahigashi

Today, Hisato Nakahigashi is the fourth-generation proprietor and chef of Miyamaso. That role is less a title than a transfer of method: holding on to technique, family memory, and a distinct way of reading the landscape, while keeping the practice in active use. In a house identified with wild herb cuisine and tsumikusa cuisine, the work is to maintain continuity without letting it harden.

At Miyamaso, the cooking is supported by a set of routines and objects that carry the same intent as the dishes themselves. The house treats daily detail as part of the craft, so the experience is built through touch, timing, and the materials a guest actually uses. That approach gives the room a close, controlled feel: hospitality as an accumulated set of practical decisions. “Every morning, our cooks wake up and create chopsticks that our guests use that day.”

Read plainly, that line describes a working habit. It places making ahead of serving and treats the utensil as part of the meal’s structure, not an afterthought. The chopsticks are not separate from the kitchen’s standards; they are one more place where the house expresses care through labor. “Even something as simple as a chopstick can be a connection to the land.” That statement names the logic behind the house style: dining is linked to place through use, material, and routine, not only through what is plated. Under Hisato Nakahigashi, the family line remains legible in the present tense, with tradition carried as practice rather than display.