Meet the subject
味の三平
Aji no Sanpei is a Sapporo ramen shop opened by Morito Ōmiya in 1950. Its place in miso ramen history involves miso seasoning, collaboration with a noodle maker and the idea of a bowl containing cooked vegetables as a meal. The shop’s own development is distinct from the later nationwide spread of Sapporo-style miso ramen.
Opening the shop and introducing its miso dish were different events.
Noodles and cooked vegetables are central to the shop’s account.
One restaurant’s practice does not define every Sapporo ramen recipe.
The second-generation owner describes his father developing miso-aji-men through repeated experiments inspired by miso soup. Miso provides the seasoning, alongside the stock, noodles and vegetables. The name miso ramen therefore does not specify every stock ingredient or cooking method.
A schematic of the Sapporo method described by the ramen museum, showing how the ingredients combine.
The shop credits Ōmiya and Nishiyama Seimen with developing curled noodles to accompany the rich soup, emphasizing their springiness and feel when eaten. Its owner notes that the noodles became somewhat thinner over time while retaining that emphasis on texture.
The owner recalls his father’s concern with a satisfying meal during postwar nutritional shortages, explaining the use of cooked vegetables. Scallions, onions, bean sprouts and cabbage followed experimentation. Green pepper was once included but removed after customers disliked it. The ingredient combination was therefore not fixed from opening day.
| Position in illustration | Vegetable |
|---|---|
| Upper left | Cabbage |
| Upper right | Bean sprouts |
| Lower left | Onion |
| Lower right | Scallion |
Nishiyama’s chronology records Ōmiya opening Aji no Sanpei at Minami 7, Nishi 3 in 1950. That dates the restaurant’s foundation. Sapporo had ramen businesses before it, while the miso dish belongs to a subsequent phase of development.
Nishiyama’s chronology says miso-aji-men entered the menu in 1954. The Ramen Museum instead describes testing from 1955 and formal menu adoption in 1961. These retrospective accounts disagree about the menu milestone. The reliable broad sequence is a shop founded in 1950 followed by miso-dish development during the 1950s.
| Source | Account |
|---|---|
| Nishiyama Seimen | 1954 menu account |
| Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum | 1955 experiments; formal menu introduction in 1961 |
A familiar story says a customer requested noodles in pork-and-miso soup, inspiring the dish. The Ramen Museum repeats that account. The second-generation owner explicitly rejects it, instead describing his father’s own experiments.
The museum connects the wider spread of Sapporo miso ramen with Hokkaido department-store fairs, chain businesses and instant products from the 1960s onward. This involved several restaurants and companies, rather than Aji no Sanpei opening all those outlets. The shop continues to describe its own adaptations; its official location page places it on the fourth floor of the Daimaru Fujii Central building.
It dates the shop’s opening. Accounts of the dish’s later development and menu appearance differ.
No. Other shops, noodle makers and food companies helped develop and circulate the regional style.
The shop says it was tried and later removed following customers’ reactions.
No. Its second-generation owner explicitly disputes it and describes his father’s experimentation.
A bowl shown on Aji no Sanpei’s website, photograph date unknown; not an opening-era prototype.
No open licence established from the source website.
A current promotional image on the shop’s website; photograph date unknown.
No open licence established from the source website.