---
title: Shinshu soba
url: https://karigurashijourney.com/en/notes/shinshu-soba/
lang: en
journey: https://karigurashijourney.com/en/episodes/narai/
---

# Shinshu soba

A little of each town’s story　/　Shiojiri, Nagano

Buckwheat grows even in cool highlands where rice and wheat struggle, so it has long been cultivated in Nagano, helped by the wide day-night temperature swings and clear water. Soba kiri, buckwheat cut into thin noodles, is said to have appeared in the early Edo period; a 1645 text, the Kefukigusa, calls soba kiri a specialty of Shinano Province. Motoyama-juku in Shiojiri is counted among the birthplaces of soba noodles. In 1983, handmade soba was registered as one of Nagano Prefecture's selected intangible folk cultural assets.

## This moment in the journey: Hot soba with wild vegetables

Nagano means soba, above all. I stepped into a handmade soba shop halfway along the post town. What arrived on the tray was hot soba with wild vegetables: a steaming bowl piled with bracken, mushrooms and green onions.

The thin noodles glistened with broth as I lifted them with my chopsticks. The flavor of the soba and the mountain greens seeped into the soup, gentle, deep, and quietly delicious. Sitting in the tatami room, I cradled the bowl and savored it to the end.

Outside, a paper lantern sign reading "handmade soba" hung by the latticed wall, where a pot of yellow flowers had been set.

![Lifting soba noodles from the bowl](https://karigurashijourney.com/img/narai/s55-1200.jpg)
- Sources: https://www.go-nagano.net/food-and-drink/id11450
- Sources: https://www.maff.go.jp/j/keikaku/syokubunka/k_ryouri/area_stories/nagano.html

Read this scene in the full journey: https://karigurashijourney.com/en/episodes/narai/