日本三大秘境のまち

The Iya Valley in Tokushima Prefecture’s Miyoshi City attracts visitors from around the world to its Kazurabashi Vine Bridges, and there are several restaurants which offer local specialties for these travelers. However, if looking for the down-home taste of Iya where the locals go to eat, which serves all of Iya’s specialties and more, then the place to go is this “undiscovered” little gem.

Dining in the Center of “Deep Iya”

Miyoshi City’s Iya Valley is divided into two halves. Nishi-Iya (“West Iya”) has somewhat more condensed development, including various hot springs, restaurants, and places to stay. And though Higashi-Iya (“East Iya”) has a larger population, it is much more spread out and vast, and it is also more commonly known locally as Oku-Iya (“Deep Iya”).

The blink-or-you’ll-miss-it “downtown” area of Higashi-Iya is called Kyojo, and here can be found the post office, history museum, gas station, a couple shops, and the town office building.

Also here is the longstanding Hotel Oku-Iya, and one recent winter’s day I stopped into their restaurant have myself an always satisfying lunch.

Where All the Patrons are Neighbors 

Upon entering, the nostalgic dining area announces its warm retro feel. It was just after noon and most of the half-dozen or so tables were full of people on their lunch break. 

The customers were all locals and the uptight “omotenashi” style of formal hospitality, for which Japan is famed, was also taking a bit of a break. Instead, everyone casually called out their orders into the kitchen since the laid-back staff were obviously old friends.

For certain, many of the restaurant’s daily patrons and workers have probably known one another in this small mountain town for their whole lives.

The Oldest Store in Oku-Iya

I peeked into the kitchen to speak with the staff a bit before placing my order. They were busy putting meals together, but took a moment to explain how the official name for the location is Taniguchi Shouten Shokudo (“Taniguchi Shop and Restaurant”), and it is actually the first business to be established in Higashi-Iya.  

Back 80+ years ago, the Iya Valley was just getting its first road coming in and  the people living here were all subsistence farmers. The Taniguchi Family first started this shop at that time as a small ice cream stand, and the family’s descendants have been operating and expanding it ever since.

Now on the 4th generation of Taniguchis, two sisters and their brother run this small but essential local enterprise. The sisters mainly operate the food production part (which is not just the restaurant, but also for catering and banquets), and the brother manages the connecting hotel.

Meals with Local Flavors

The restaurant here is known for offering dishes which reflect the local tastes and traditional food culture of the Iya Valley.

Not only do they use locally sourced vegetables, especially the wild mountain sprouts which the sisters go out to pick and pickle themselves each spring, but they also actively incorporate old-time Iya ingredients, including the local “stone” tofu and “gibier” wild game meat hunted in the surrounding forests.

In Part 2 I’ll start sampling the enticing menu at the Hotel Oku-Iya Restaurant.

For more info, check their website (Japanese only): https://www.okuiya.jp/

Or for English info, check their page on IyaTime:

https://www.iyatime.com/Oku-Iya-Hotel-and-Restaurant

(Text & Photos by: Shaun Lamzy)