Masashi Yamada

The Path

The chef role at Yanagiya gives Masashi Yamada control over the framework of the kitchen, and that framework is organized around hearth cooking, seasonality, and direct presentation. At Yanagiya in Mizunami, Gifu, Japan, the emphasis is on ingredients at their peak and on a method that keeps the work close to the fire and visible to the diner.

The Work Today

Irori cuisine is the center of the current menu, with wild game and seasonal ingredients carrying the load. Duck, boar, bear, and wild unagi are part of that structure, and Masashi Yamada cooks them over charcoal at the irori in front of guests. The setup leaves little room for excess; what matters is control of heat, order of service, and the ability to move each ingredient through the fire at the right moment. Freshness and timing do as much work here as technique. Highly seasonal ingredients and local meat and fish supplied the same day determine what can be served, so the menu follows availability rather than a fixed script. In that kind of kitchen, fire control becomes a core skill: not just applying heat, but holding it, adjusting it, and reading the charcoal with enough patience to let flavor settle in on its own terms. The room created by this approach is intimate and elemental. The hearth functions as the center of the dining space, echoing a mode of cooking in which people gathered around fire for food and company alike. Masashi Yamada has described irori in those terms as well, naming it both as a place to eat and a place to cook.

In Their Words “Irori was the meal gathering place, the cooking place.” “This is what Japanese style originally looked like.”