Ōki Shichimitōgarashi Closed

After some 400 years in business, Higashinihinbashi’s Ōki Shichimitōgarashi has closed. It actually closed back in July of 2021, but despite passing by the shop quite frequently, I was not aware of the closing until I saw a notice on the door last week. Ōki Shichimitōgarashi, along with its previous other half, Yagen Shichimitōgarashi, based in Asakusa, is considered to be the first shop to make the now ubiquitous seven spice mix known as shichimitōgarashi (七味唐辛子), the word being composed of the kanji for “seven” (shichi), flavors (mi, 味), Chinese 唐), and “ spicy,” (karashi, 辛子) probably because the shop was close to Yagenbori temple, a temple associated with medicine. 400 years ago, when the shop opened (they were never really sure exactly when it opened as many records have been destroyed over the centuries), medicine generally meant Chinese medicine and knowledge, thus the inclusion of the kanji for “things Chinese” (ka, 唐).

The shop in Higashinihonbashi was tiny, with barely enough room for two customers to stand inside while one of the two women who ran the shop mixed spices to order behind the counter. I thought their mix was the best—and cheapest—of all the mixes out there. I used to buy 500 grams at a time for a friend’s izakaya in Portland, the half kilo costing only something like ¥6,000.

I never asked the reason as I thought it rude to pry, but back in 1943 the original business split in two, one part moving up the Sumida River to Asakusa and taking with the original name, Yagen Shichimi, with it, while the other half stayed in the neighborhood if not the exact location where it started and changing its name to Ōki Shichimitōgarashi (大木七味唐辛子). When I asked the neighbors about the closing, they mentioned that the mother of the shop, the woman that more often than not waited on me who appeared to be well into her 90s, had passed away in August. That made me wonder if there might have been some connection between the shop splitting in two back in 1943 and her passing.

I am going to miss the shop and the sweet older woman who was the ultimate boss.