Maru Debu Souhonten is located on the west side of Kinkabashi Street, about a 10-minute walk north from HOTEL RESOL GIFU. This is a long-established Chinese noodle shop that has been in business for 107 years, and there are lines before the store opens at 11:00.

The current owner, Fusaaki Kamiya, is the third generation owner. His grandfather, Fusaji, trained at Rai Rai Ken in Tokyo before returning to Gifu and starting out as a puller (selling from a cart) in the entertainment district of Nishiyanagi-ga-se in 1917 (Taisho 6). He eventually set up shop in Yanagi-ga-se, then the busiest shopping district in Gifu, on the east side of Heiwa-dori (now Kinkabashi-dori), which runs north-south through the center of Gifu.

In 1944 (Showa 19), towards the end of the Pacific War, Heiwa-dori Street was widened to become a road for soldiers to return home in triumph, and the store was forced to move to its current location on the opposite side of the street. After it was burned down in the Gifu air raid in 1945 (Showa 20), three or four people built a shack to protect the land from being taken in the chaos that followed the war, and they stayed there to defend it. Three years later, they finally rebuilt and reopened the store as it is today.

"Rairaiken in Tokyo was originally a Chinese soba restaurant. So we started out serving Chinese cuisine.
"The menu only has 'Chuka Soba' and 'Wonton'... For some reason, there have only been two items on the menu since I was a child. The restaurant is run by only four people, two in the kitchen and two outside, so we can only make two items," says Fusaaki Kamiya, the third-generation owner.

They make their own noodles and wontons. They don't buy any pre-made ingredients, they make all of their own ingredients, and by running the restaurant with a small number of staff in their own home, they've been able to keep the modern-day value of "Chuka Soba" and "Wontons" at 600 yen a bowl.

Watching the changes in Gifu city...

The years have been filled with ups and downs in their own way. Hot years, cold years, changes in the shopping district, and now the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the past, when Yanagase was more prosperous than it is now, there were as many movie theaters as there were film companies, and the area was very prosperous with crowds of people gathering at the end of each film. As the movie theaters moved to the suburbs, department stores disappeared, and the main street became deserted and less crowded.

"My son and I are doing our best to keep it going, but the restaurants around here have not been able to be passed on since our generation. Restaurants from our generation such as the tonkatsu restaurant Ippei-chan, the udon restaurant Musashi-no, and the Western restaurant Nekoichi have all closed in the last one or two years. Businesses have long and irregular hours, with few days off, so many people are reluctant to marry into them," says Kamiya with a sad smile.

Our commitment is to take responsibility for our own flavor

During the COVID-19 pandemic, subsidies were available if the store had been closed, but we chose not to accept the subsidy and kept the store open.
"When the shop is closed, my sense of kneading the noodles becomes dull. I get calluses on my fingers from lifting the wire, and when I'm not working, the calluses soften and I can't lift the wire. When you take into account the gas and electricity bills, we're in the red with only 20 to 30 customers a day, but it's more frustrating when I close the shop for a while, then when I open it again, I can't get the hang of it and end up making something I'm not happy with," says Kamiya.

When asked if there are plans to open more stores, he answered firmly, "No."
"There are companies that want to open a chain of restaurants and they ask me if I want to open a few stores, but when I tell them I can't do it as a part-time job, they just leave. Our restaurant has a unique flavor that we add and subtract to suit our regular customers."

He added, "If we serve it in many places, we can't be responsible for the taste. The most troubling thing is when people say, 'That place's different from yours.'"

Since its founding over 100 years ago, the restaurant has overcome many obstacles and has been run by the third-generation owner, Mr. Kamiya, who has an extraordinary commitment to "our own flavor."

With the spread of smartphones and social media, individuals have become able to disseminate information, and as a result, they have seen an increase in new customer bases in addition to their regulars, including people they had never met before and more female customers.

By the way, when I asked about the origin of the store's name "Maru Debu," I was told that it was simply because the first owner was overweight and was nicknamed "Deb Debu."
There is a photo in the shop. The first owner, who can be seen in the bottom right of the photo, certainly looked like a very beefy man.

In July 2024, Gifu Takashimaya, the city's last department store, located across the main street from the store, closed.
Even so, the inside of Maru Debu Souhonten is bustling with activity, with the owner loudly taking orders.

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Maru Debu Main Store

Address: 3-1 Hinodecho, Gifu City

Phone: 058-262-9573

Access: 16 minutes on foot from the north exit of JR Gifu Station

1 minute walk from Gifu Bus "Kinkabashi-dori Yanagase"