A 300-Year Taste of Tradition — Choujiya’s Eel and Its Secret Sauce
On the old Ōshū Kaido, where Tochigi meets Fukushima, stands Choujiya, a restaurant with roots stretching back to the late Edo period. For nearly three centuries, this venerable house has served eel prepared with a flavor unlike any other. Today, the 15th-generation owner, Masao Adachi, continues to guard and pass down the taste that defines Choujiya.
Masao AdachiRepresentative of Choujiya
A Journey with the Post Towns
In its earliest days, when this land prospered as a post town along the Ōshū Kaido, Choujiya’s ancestors ran both a government post and an inn for weary travelers. Soon, the river behind the house yielded eels, and the inn naturally became known as a place to dine as well. Every morning, fishermen would bring in fresh eels, which were kept alive in tanks until served to guests.
Until about twenty years ago, Choujiya still operated as an inn. Today, responding to the times, it proudly flies its curtain as a specialist in eel alone.
The Secret Sauce — Never Written, Only Spoken
What makes Choujiya’s eel truly extraordinary is its secret sauce. Unlike any standard recipe, its method has been whispered from one head of the family to the next—never written down.
“I couldn’t understand why we used certain ingredients when I first heard about it,” laughs Adachi. “It overturned everything I thought I knew.” But because this method has been faithfully preserved since the Edo era, the flavor remains unchanged.
Even now, the recipe exists only inside Adachi’s mind. Not even his son, the 16th-generation heir, has been taught. The secret will remain sealed until the day Adachi feels his successor is ready.
Along the Path of Bashō
Choujiya sits where the Ōshū Kaido crosses into Fukushima. The great haiku master Matsuo Bashō passed this very road on his “Narrow Road to the Deep North,” composing his famous “Yugyō Yanagi ” verse nearby in Ashino. For centuries, countless travelers and poets walked this path, and Choujiya has been part of their journey.
“No matter how old it is, we must preserve how it was,” Adachi says firmly. “That is Choujiya’s flavor—and its very reason for being.”
A Call to Visitors from Abroad
With more international guests arriving, Adachi has a message:
“This place is a crossroads of history, a post town of the Edo era. I want people from overseas to taste not only the eel but also the centuries of culture behind it.”
Through its secret sauce of 300 years and the living spirit of the old highway, each bowl at Choujiya carries the soul of a town that has welcomed travelers for generations.
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Step onto the historic route once walked by poets and merchants, and let us welcome you to Choujiya. Here, you can enjoy eel glazed with a time-honored sauce passed down through generations. Sit back, relax, and savor a flavor that carries the spirit of centuries past.
