Waraji Katsudon

Published: Aug 11, 2026

Updated: Aug 11, 2026

waraji katsudonOganoChichibupork cutletlocal specialty

Representative image — not a photograph of this location.

Waraji katsudon is a pork cutlet the size and shape of a straw sandal, dipped in a soy-based sauce and laid over rice — two of them per bowl, hanging well over the edges. The name is literal: waraji are the woven straw sandals travellers wore, and the cutlets are pounded flat until they match. It is the food of the Chichibu basin and particularly of Ogano, a small town on the road towards the mountains.

Yasudaya, a diner founded in the early Showa period and now run by the third generation, is where it started and is still the reference. The menu is essentially one item. The shop opens around lunchtime and again briefly in the evening, but it stops when the rice runs out, which happens on plenty of days and is the single thing worth planning around.

Essential Information

Opening Hours

About 11:00 AM – 1:30 PM and about 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM; closes when the rice runs out

Closed: Confirm before travelling — closing days and hours are not fixed

Entrance Fee

About ¥1,000 for the two-cutlet bowl | About ¥900 for one cutlet | About ¥1,350 for three — confirm current pricing

Best Season

Year-round

Visit Duration

45 minutes – 1 hour

Getting There

Access Information

Yasudaya at Ogano 353, Ogano Town, Chichibu District, about 20 minutes by car from Chichibu; buses run from Seibu-Chichibu Station. Opening runs from around 11:00 AM to about 1:30 PM and again from around 5:00 PM to 6:00 PM, but the shop closes when the rice runs out, so timing is approximate. Two-cutlet bowl about ¥1,000, one cutlet about ¥900, three cutlets about ¥1,350 — confirm current pricing. A branch operates in the Hinoda area of Chichibu.

Insider Guide

Premium

**It closes when the rice runs out.** Not a figure of speech. Arriving at the start of the lunch opening is the only reliable approach, and a late lunch is a gamble. **One cutlet is enough for most people.** Two hang off the bowl and that is the standard order locally. Ordering three because the menu offers it is a decision people regret. **The sauce is soy, not Worcester.** Chichibu's version is thinner and less sweet than the katsudon sauces further west, and there is no egg. **The Hinoda branch in Chichibu is easier to reach.** Same family, same dish, and it does not require the drive to Ogano. Purists go to the original. **Ogano is the gateway to Mount Futago and Ryokami.** If you are eating here you are probably heading into the western Chichibu mountains, which is what the dish was fuel for.

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