Editing Iron Chef (section)

=== Iron Chefs ===
From the beginning of the show in 1993, the three Iron Chefs were: Iron Chef Japanese [[Rokusaburo Michiba]], Iron Chef Chinese [[Chen Kenichi]], and Iron Chef French [[Yutaka Ishinabe]]. After the first season, Ishinabe decided to step down and become an 'honorary Iron Chef', thus passing the mantle of Iron Chef French to [[Hiroyuki Sakai]] in 1994. Ishinabe returned for two more battles during season three. At the beginning of season four in 1996, Michiba announced his retirement and debuted [[Koumei Nakamura]] as the new Iron Chef Japanese. Michiba returned on rare occasions for special Kitchen Stadium battles. In 1997, Chairman Kaga announced a new, additional Iron Chef to the group: Iron Chef Italian [[Masahiko Kobe]]. He was the youngest of the Iron Chefs and battled sparingly throughout the rest of the show, ascending to the stage separately from the three main Iron Chefs, and surrounded by a chamber string ensemble. In 1998, Nakamura also decided to retire and passed the title of Iron Chef Japanese to [[Masaharu Morimoto]].