When I was researching on notable restaurants to try out in Kyoto, the name “Sushi no Musashi” kept popping up in my search results. Sushi no Musashi is ranked as number 63 out of 12972 restaurants in Kyoto and number 3 sushi restaurant in Kyoto. 46% of reviewers on TripAdvisor says Musashi Sushi is “excellent” and 37% said it is “very good”.
Sushi no Musashi, which operates 3 conveyor belt sushi restaurants in Kyoto, opened in 1977. It aims to offer authentic sushi flavours using fresh ingredients.
After a tiring day of visiting Nijo-jo Castle, Ginkajuji Temple (you can consider having lunch at Harakiku Shokudo) and Kiyomizu-dera Temple, what can be better than ending the day with a dinner at the famous Sushi no Musashi in JR Kyoto Station.
As you can see, Sushi no Musashi is indeed very popular. There are not only tourists, there are many Japanese in the queue too. The queue can get pretty long especially on weekends and public holidays and 1-2 hours of waiting is pretty common. Try coming during weekdays in daytime to avoid waiting.
As with all conveyor belt sushi restaurants, price is calculated based on the number of plates you eat. The blue and coloured plates are 146 Yen each while the dark blue plates are 346 Yen each. The blue plates hold sushi with wasabi, so stay clear of the blue plates if you don’t like the pungent taste of wasabi.
There is limited seating capacity of 34 which explains the long queue and waiting time, but turnover rate is pretty fast.
Sushi no Musashi wants to be ” a restaurant that customers love”, so they are very particular the finer details such as the rice, vinegar, soy sauce and Japanese tea that they serve to the customers. Sushi no Musashi’s sushi rice is a blend of three brands of rice from Bizen – Koshikikari, Asahi and Akebono, mixed with vinegar made with natural kelp. Sushi no Musashi only uses Koichita soy sauce, which is made from a blend of soybeans wheat aged for many years in Nabijo, Banshu and Tatsuno. The Japanese tea you enjoy at Sushi no Musashi is a secret blend of shizuoka, uji and ureshino tea.
Let me show you what are some of the sushi you can expect to have at Sushi no Musashi (I don’t have the names for some of them).
Roast Fatty Salmon Nigiri
Conch Nigiri
Salmon (Sake) Nigiri
Shellfish Nigiri
Baby Octopus Nigiri
Octopus (Tako) Nigiri
Original Egg (Tamago) Nigiri
Eel Nigiri
Onion Salmon Nigiri
Sea Bream Nigiri
Raw Horsemeat & Mane Nigiri
Squid (Ika) Nigiri
Red Shell Nigiri
Eggplant (Wasabinasu) Nigiri
Matcha Ice-Cream
If you are in Kyoto and in search of a casual conveyor belt sushi restaurant, I recommend Sushi no Musashi. Sushi no Musashi serves over 50 kinds of sushi, all at the affordable price of 146 -346 Yen per plate. Its excellent location in JR Kyoto Station makes it a good place for a quality fuss-free sushi meal.
Sushi no Musashi (JR Kyoto Station)
Address: 8-3 Higashirokuro Takakura-cho, Shimogyo-ku, Kyoto 600 – 8214, Kyoto Station Hashijiguchi Campus Astyroad Kyoto Hospitality Small Tube
Telephone: 075-662-0634
Opening Hours: Daily 10.30am – 10.30pm (last order 10.15pm)
Sushi no Musashi (Karawarmachi)
Address: 440 seat Ebisu Kawaramachi Sanjo Kagamine -shi, Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto 604-8005
Telephone: 075-222-0634
Opening Hours: Daily 11am – 10pm (last order 9.45pm)
Sushi No Musashi (Kami Horikawa)
Address: 440 Ebisucho, Nakagyo-ku, Kyoto 604-8005
Telephone: 075-493-4891
Opening Hours: Daily 11.30am – 9.30pm (last order 9.15pm)
Website: http://www.sushinomusashi.com/index.html (This website is in Japanese. I recommend using Google Chrome to view this website so that Google can auto-translate into the language of your choice.)”
