We put meticulous effort into creating supple noodles that are boiled until soft. One method is treading on the dough. Too much treading does not produce good noodles, and achieving the perfect balance is quite challenging.

Udon from the Hakata district of Fukuoka City places great value in its dashi (soup stock), so much that it is often said that one “eats the dashi.” As such, the noodles are softer than that of other regions, so that they mix well with the soup. In addition, the noodles are cooked in advance, drawing on the wisdom of Hakata merchants who wanted to be able to start their meals quickly.

Udon was originally created thanks to the milling technology of quern-stones that were developed based on a watermill blueprint brought back to Japan by a Buddhist monk named Shōichikokushi, who had journeyed to China for ascetic training in the 13th century, during the Song dynasty. A Chinese merchant named Xie Guoming, who had been living in Hakata at the time, built the Jōtenji Temple for Shōichikokushi in what is now the 1-Chome neighborhood of Hakata Station. A monument that indicates the birthplace of udon stands in the temple grounds in honor of the monk’s achievement.