Yamagata Soba

The prefecture's tourism portal describes Yamagata soba as a little harder, thicker and darker than Shinshu soba, cut thick from a dark flour. Ita soba, several servings heaped on a long wooden board or a big wooden box, comes from the Murayama area's custom of treating people to soba after farm work. The Nihon Kokugo Daijiten adds that the noodles run thicker than ordinary country soba and the dipping sauce lighter. Shojiya in Yamagata city, open since the 1860s, still serves its boards with a sauce of Tosa bonito and Rishiri kelp.

Niku soba is the other half of the story. Kahoku is credited with it: soba in a soy broth topped with chicken and leeks, and the cold version began as a way to keep the noodles from going soft. Ask for tsuttai niku soba to get it cold, and niku chuka if you want the same bowl with ramen noodles. The prefecture's soba roads, the Mogamigawa Sannansho, Oishida and Obanazawa routes, each line up more than ten soba shops.