”SAKURADA” Zen Chef

突然の閉店を発表した、京都を代表する懐石料亭「桜田」の、最後100日間を追った12分のドキュメンタリー作品。

A documentary film featuring the final 100 days of a renowned 2 Michelin starred kaiseki restaurant in Kyoto, “SAKURADA,” after the sudden announcement to close its doors.

10代で禅寺に入り、修行をしたことがきっかけで料理の道に入った、料理人・桜田五十鈴氏。一代で有名料亭「桜田」を築き上げた同氏の「引退」を通して、京都の和食が追求する世界観や禅との繋がりを描く。

Solitary Chef Isuzu Sakurada is featured. He awoke to the world of cooking during his training at the Zen temple in his teenage years. Remarkably, Chef Sakurada brought his restaurant to an esteemed one-of-a-kind status in just one generation. Through his “retirement,” the film describes the association between the world-view pursued by Japanese cuisine in Kyoto and the spirit of Zen.

京都の中心部、仏光寺の裏手にある狭い路地に、一軒の料亭がある。小さな座敷と４つのテーブル、10席足らずのカウンターしか無いこの店が、全国の料理人にその名を知られる京懐石の名店「桜田」だ。和食の道に入った若い料理人たちが、「だし」のスタンダードを知るために全国から訪れるという。

Deep in a narrow alley behind Bukko Temple in central Kyoto stands a restaurant. It only has 4 tables on the floor and 10 seats at the counter. This is Sakurada, the renowned Kyo kaiseki restaurant, widely known among chefs all over Japan. It is said that Sakurada is the restaurant that young chefs head to in order to learn the standard of “Dashi (soup stock),” the heart of the Japanese cuisine.

2013年には、ミシェランの2つ星にも選ばれ、海外からの予約も入るようになった。そんな中、この店のオーナーで創業以来包丁を握り続けている大将・桜田五十鈴氏が突然「店を閉める」と宣言する。驚く常連客や、狼狽するスタッフに向かって大将は、涼しい顔で「そろそろ潮時だから」と言い、粛々と閉店準備を進めていく。

Although the restaurant had an ever-booming business after it became a 2 starred Michelin restaurant in 2015, the Owner and Chef Isuzu Sakurada, “the Master,” suddenly announced that he would close the restaurant. He calmly said to the surprise of his patrons and panic-stricken staff, “I am not young anymore and think it is the time” and moved on to close the restaurant.

開店当初から桜田を見守ってきた、茶道・武者小路千家の家元、第14代千宗守は、こうした大将の姿を「惜しまれつつ去る事が出来る人間は、この世にわずかしか居ない」と賞賛し、「うらやましい」と感嘆を漏らした。

The 14^th head master of the Mushanokoji Senke tea school, Soshu Sen, has frequented the restaurant since it opened. He praised Chef Sakurada, “He never became a business person. He has always been a man with a cooking knife who strives to achieve mastery of culinary art.” The tea master also said, “There are only a handful of people who can finish strong. I envy him.”