Yamagata Soba - Traditional Foods in Japan | Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries

YamagataYamagata Soba

Classification (Large)

Agricultural products

Classification (Small)

Grain products

Main ingredients used

Soba

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Region of inheritance

All of Yamagata Prefecture

Product overview (special characteristics and types)

While Murayama, Okitama, Shonai, and Mogami have each nurtured unique food cultures, the traditional food common to all these neighborhoods of Yamagata is soba noodles. In the old days, kaimochi (or soba gaki, buckwheat dumpling) and soba gome (buckwheat seeds) were made in this region before the emergence of the soba kiri noodles, when the soba culture began to diverge by area; at this time, with each household and restaurant adding creative twists to their soba, a variety of soba cultures started to prosper. This diversity is the most distinctive feature of Yamagata’s soba.
A typical dish is Ita Soba, which is enjoyed in inland areas such as Murayama. Ita Soba’s origin can be traced back to soba furumai, the traditional custom of serving soba on long boards or in wooden boxes so that many people can eat it together after doing farming work. This way of serving soba retains more moisture on the surface than serving it in the Seiro box, keeping the noodles fresh and smooth.
Other well-known soba dishes include Gassan Sansai Soba of Nishikawa Town, which consists of country soba noodles prepared using spring water from Gassan that are served in a soup featuring wild vegetables and mushrooms cooked in a pot; Tsumetai Niku Soba of Kahoku Town, which consists of firm-textured country soba noodles topped with chicken broth and chicken sausage; and Geso Ten Soba, which is common throughout the prefecture, especially Yamagata City.
In addition, historical soba dishes such as Tempo Soba and Kanzarashi Soba were brought back during the Showa and Heisei Periods. Today, soba restaurants in the prefecture serve these in limited quantities during specific times of year. It is said that the Tempo Soba buckwheat in particular has a strong soba flavor because it is a pre-improvement original breed.

History and culture

By around four or five years after soba kiri noodles became available in Edo (today’s Tokyo) in 1684, the soba-noodle-making technique had already been introduced to Yamagata, where people were enjoying many different types of soba and soba dishes.
Yamagata Prefecture is one of the leading soba production areas, featuring abundant water and a climate with a wide temperature range that make the area ideal for growing soba. However, the local soba culture was not passed down without interruption from the Edo Period; instead, the culture declined for a time before people started diversifying paddy field crops in the 1970s, after which the soba culture became quite prosperous, and partly due to the improvement of agricultural equipment and the popularity of handmade soba noodles, soba was not only served and consumed at restaurants but also made and served at home for community and family gatherings.
The mainstream varieties of Yamagata’s buckwheat seeds are Dewa Kaori, which was uniquely developed by the prefecture, and Mogamiwase, which is derived from a breed native to the northern part of the prefecture. In 2022, a new variety called Dewa Takara (Yamagata BW No. 5), a cross between the flavorful Dewakaori and the high yield Hitachiaki Soba, was introduced from Hoya, Tsuruoka City.
In addition to creating new kinds of soba, people have also been restoring lost historical soba varieties. Tenmpo Soba was grown by germinating buckwheat seeds from the Tempo Period (1830-1844) and keeping them isolated on the remote island of Tobishima to avoid crossbreeding and increase the yield. Originally found in the attic of a house of a family native to Fukushima in 1998, these buckwheat seeds were revived in Yamagata by a turn of fate. In addition, Kanzarashi Soba, which is made by soaking hulled buckwheat seeds in an extremely cold river and exposing them to cold winds, was also restored through a decade-long initiative that started in 1974. It is said that this time-honored soba variety was introduced by Hoshina Masayuki, a historical figure from the Takato clan in Shinshu, when he became the lord of the Yamagata clan.

Production method

Handmade soba noodles:
The entire process, from mixing buckwheat flour with water to cutting soba noodles with a knife, is manually performed using utensils such as a kneading bowl, beating table, rolling pin, cutting board, cutting guide board, and soba cutting knife.
This process consists of three major steps, namely mizumawashi, or adding some water to the buckwheat flour and evenly mixing it; kibachi sagyo, which involves the kukuri and hesodashi processes using a wooden bowl; and hocho giri, which consists of using the rolling pin to stretch the soba dough to a specific thickness on the beating board as well as folding and cutting the stretched dough into noodles.
As the old saying goes, "Kibachi san nen, nobashi mitsuki, hocho mikka" ("three years for the wooden bowl, three months for stretching, and three days for cutting"), the initial steps of mizumawashi and kukuri using the wooden bowl are considered to be the most important.

Conservation and succession efforts

In Yamagata Prefecture, areas with a high concentration of soba restaurants are called soba kaido. There are over 10 soba kaido districts in the prefecture, including Mogami Gawa Sannansho Soba Kaido (Murayama City), Oishida Soba Kaido (Oishida Town), and Okuno Hosomichi/Obanazawa Soba Kaido (Obanazawa City). In each soba kaido, you can find a brochure that includes a map and information on soba restaurants and tourist spots. Many towns hold festivals featuring soba in November, the period of freshly harvested soba.
There are also many places where you can try making soba noodles, and you can find dry and fresh soba noodles available at supermarkets and online.

Main consumption method

Firm up boiled soba with cold water while removing the slime. Serve the noodles on a strainer or board with a soup base made from dashi soup stock. In winter, it is common to eat soba noodles in hot soup.

At-home recipes：Niku soba

Ingredients

Yamagata Soba (dried noodles)

2 servings

Chicken thigh

100g

Water

400cc

Mentsuyu sauce (straight)

1 tablespoon

Mirin rice wine

1 tablespoon

Sake

50cc

Green onion (cut into pieces)

As needed

How to make

Slice the chicken thigh diagonally.

Add 400 cc of water to a saucepan. Apply heat and when it boils, add the chicken thigh from step 1. Once cooked, remove the chicken thigh along with the foam and oil.

Add the mentsuyu, mirin, and sake and simmer again. Pour the contents of the saucepan into a bowl, remove the heat, and cool.

Boil the soba noodles according to the package instructions. Once done, rinse them well. Firm them with iced water before draining them.

Serve the soba noodles from step 4 in a bowl, top with the chicken thigh, pour the soup stock from step 3, and sprinkle with green onions.