Kandagawa is undoubtedly best known to American audiences from his involvement with the cult-hit
Iron Chef. As a leader of a large faction of chefs who believe in the purity of traditional Japanese cuisine, he rarely entered Kitchen Stadium without a large entourage of other chefs, and often supported apprentices in their challenges of the Iron Chefs. His role in Iron Chef's storylines was the same as a
heel in the world of
professional wrestling, an aggressive and somewhat bullying persona for the Iron Chefs to contend with. He personally battled the Iron Chefs on several occasions, winning 3 of his 5 battles. (His first victory was over Iron Chef
Chen Kenichi, and his second was against Iron Chef
Koumei Nakamura, who in a storyline point had vowed to retire as an Iron Chef if he lost. True to his word, Nakamura's next battle was his last as a regular Iron Chef.) In addition to the battles, Kandagawa was also upon occasion a special guest of Kitchen Stadium in various episodes. He attended the retirement episodes of both Nakamura and
Rokusaburo Michiba, who had battled many of Kandagawa's protégés. He also acted as a consultant to master chef
Tadamichi Ohta and the "Ohta faction" of Japanese cuisine specialists, who were the primary nemesis of the third Iron Chef Japanese,
Masaharu Morimoto. His final appearance in the regular series was during the "King of Iron Chefs" tournament final, where he sat alongside the other Iron Chefs as they watched the final battle between
Hiroyuki Sakai and
Chen Kenichi. Kandagawa's final Iron Chef battle took place during the
21st Century Battles special, when he sported a shaven head as proof of his resolution to bring Japanese cuisine into the new millennium. He defeated Iron Chef
Hiroyuki Sakai in this battle, which was one of the few that Sakai lost where seafood was the main ingredient. He was also known for his short temper onscreen and his playfulness toward the camera as shown during his battle with Iron Chef Sakai during their
Lotus Root Battle. One notable moment was when one of the judges, French actress
Julie Dreyfus, refused to eat the dish prepared by him because it contained
whale meat. Kandagawa died from
COVID-19 on April 25, 2021, in
Osaka, during the
COVID-19 pandemic in Japan. He was 81. ==References==