Noodles ── Udon
Yoshida no Udon
Extra-firm noodles from the foot of Mt. Fuji, topped with horse meat
A markedly firm, chewy udon from Fujiyoshida at the foot of Mt. Fuji. One account ties it to the town's textile industry, with men preparing quick meals so the women weaving cloth could keep working.
- Origin: Yamanashi Fujiyoshida
- About 90 km west of Tokyo
What it's made of
The noodles are so thick and firm they barely give when you pick them up — biting into them feels less like chewing and more like the noodle pushing back. The broth, a blend of miso and soy sauce, runs dark and rich, with sweet-savory simmered horse meat and boiled cabbage settling between the strands. The noodle's firmness and the sweet-salty topping trade off with every bite, and a shake of suridane — a ground mix of sesame, sansho pepper, and chili — at the end brings the aroma up another notch. By the time the bowl is empty, a light sweat has broken out — proof the noodle has done its warming work.
How it's made
The dough is kneaded stiff, with less water than usual, and worked underfoot with real force to push the chewiness as far as it will go. Cut into thick strands, the noodles are boiled slowly to keep their bite firm, then set into a bowl of miso-soy broth topped with cabbage and sweet-savory horse meat. The suridane condiment gets sprinkled on right before eating, to taste, by the diner's own hand.
Why it took this shape
One account traces it to a time when weaving was the town's main trade and women couldn't leave their looms. Men took over the midday cooking instead, and a filling noodle that could be kneaded fast with sheer arm strength — thick, stubbornly firm — became the standard, partly so the weavers' hands would stay smooth for the silk. At the foot of a cold mountain, a bowl that warms you fast between shifts at the loom also suited the firm noodle and the rich broth that came with it.
Before you go
- How to read a ticket machineShops that use a ticket machine (shokken-ki) often place their most popular items in a similar spot.
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- What staff say, and how to respondCommon set phrases you'll hear at restaurants, with what they mean and what to do when you hear them. You don't need to memorize them — just recognizing them is enough.
Dishes in the same style
- Bukkake UdonUdon boiled and chilled in cold water, then doused directly with a concentrated sauce. Scallion and grated daikon go on top, and mixing everything together boldly is said to be the standard way of eating it. A hot version, using warm broth instead, is also said to exist.
- Chikara UdonKake udon topped with a piece of grilled mochi. The name is said to trace to mochi's reputation as a food that "gives you strength," carrying more calories than plain rice. In the Kinki region it is also called kachin udon, from okachin, an old courtly word for mochi.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Contrast
- Fujinomiya YakisobaIt grew up as a postwar snack at Fujinomiya's candy shops and okonomiyaki stalls. Its identity rests on three local staples: chewy steamed noodles, pork-lard cracklings called nikukasu, and a sardine-powder topping called dashiko.
- Mikuriya SobaFrom the Mikuriya area of Gotemba, Shizuoka: hand-cut soba in a chicken-bone broth. It's said to have begun with binding the dough using wild yam instead of water, giving the noodle its easy, smooth swallow.
Also from Yamanashi
- Akebono Daizu no EdamameThe 'akebono' soybean, said to be 1.6 times the size of an ordinary bean, is picked young and salt-boiled — an edamame from the Akebono area of Minobu town. Grown since the Meiji era but resistant to mechanization, aging growers have made it scarce enough to be called a 'phantom bean'.
- Amanatto no OsekihanMade without azuki or cowpea beans, glutinous rice is dyed red with food coloring and mixed with candied sweet beans — a Yamanashi take on celebratory red rice, sweet-salty with a sprinkle of sesame salt. A similarly sweet red rice is said to exist far away in Hokkaido and parts of Tohoku.
- AnbinSweet potato and wheat flour are kneaded with hot water, wrapped around bean paste, slapped flat, and steamed — a sweet from the Kyonan region. Its name is said to come from the slapping motion, revived in Ichikawamisato town's Rokugo area after a local school's closure sparked a heritage-food effort.
- Awabi no NigaiAbalone from Suruga Bay was soy-sauce-marinated and hauled in barrels by horse, the jostling and body heat said to have worked the flavor deep in — a specialty from landlocked Kofu. Sliced thin and paired with its liver, shiso, and cucumber, it endures as a taste of the sea inland.
- Azuki HotoHoto noodles, cut thicker than usual, are simmered in sweet azuki bean soup in place of mochi — a festival food in Yamanashi. The summer festival at Miwa Shrine in Hokuto city's Wakamiko area is nicknamed the 'hoto festival', and azuki's red color is said to ward off misfortune.
- Hirauchi TanmenA salt-based tanmen from Kofu, Yamanashi, built on wide, flat noodles said to feel almost like fettuccine. Bean sprouts, pork, and napa cabbage pile on top for a vegetable-heavy bowl carried on today by several shops around the prefecture.