What can I add "authentically" to Japanese food to make it spicy (chili) hot?

When cooking Japanese food, my options for adding chili heat are... 1) add shichimi 2) add ichimi 3) add rayu. Okay, here is the problem, I really don't like my options. I mean those options are limited and add too much and it overpowers. It is not what I am looking for. Okay, here is what I did and I know you Japanese traditionalist are going to cringe. When I made miso soup, I boiled chopped up bird's eye chilis (Thai chilis) in water and then strained it. This left a chili heat flavor in the water. I then used that water to prepare the dashi (used kombu because I am vegetarian) and then added shoyu and mirin. Added wakame seaweed pieces and cubed tofu and heated all ingredients. Then added miso paste, never boiled miso paste. Put in lacquered bowls, added a little freshly sliced negi and that was it. Tasted great and had the heat I wanted. However, is my dish still considered authentic? I have never seen a Japanese chili pepper at the Japanese grocery store. Only see Thai chilies (even when I was in Tokyo). Basically, I found the flavor I want, however, would you accept my miso soup as authentic?|||Is Japanese food usually spicy hot? Togarashi shichimi and wasabi are the only things that come to mind. A little research on Togarashi: the spicy component is made from dried red chili pepper, exact species not identified. Shichimi is a mix of seven ingredients, one of which is chili. You might address what you don't like about this mix -- perhaps it is the seaweed or sesame. Or maybe it is old and dusty tasting. You might try generic Asian chili oil. I think bird chilis are a fine option.|||sambal oelek chili paste or sriracha sauce|||honestly, anyone that say any chli paste, sauce, etc from any asian country is authentic isn't actually fully-true

chilies came from the new world, so until the 1500s, they were not in any of these culture's foods... so of these food heretiges, going back many thousands of years, chilies are a fairly new product.



if you want to add some heat, and not affect the flavor, consider some chili extracts. I use products like Dave's Insanity, Blairs, etc which you just add 1 drop into a dish of food, and it kicks up the heat, but doesn't affect the flavors at all.