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Honke Owariya’s Soba

Soba culture in Kyoto has a spiritual provenance.
Where there are many Zen temples, there are many monks.

Centuries in the Making:
In 1702, Owariya began expanding from a confectionery shop to a restaurant serving soba noodles.

Buckwheat is so integral to Zen Buddhist temples that it is said that Zen monks clutch a handful of buckwheat flour when they meditate. Historically, soba was made in temples, but eventually priests requested confectionery shops to produce the noodles because they had the tools of "kneading, stretching, and cutting.” Becoming a restaurant, among its earliest patrons were the city’ Zen temple priests as well as the Royal Court, Owariya being a purveyor of soba to the Imperial Household Agency.

Water, Wind, Soil
Owariya's Soba: Nurtured by Nature

Owariya uses fragrant buckwheat grown under contract by farmers in Otoineppu, Hokkaido. Water is essential in bringing out the best taste in soba. Owariya's water comes from an aquifer deep underground connected to a network of water from Mt. Hiei. This water is pumped to the restaurant for daily production of soba and soup stock. It's not just important to our main branch. When my father, the 15th generation, opened a restaurant in Takashimaya Department Store, he did so under the condition that the developers dig a fifty-meter well to access the same quality underground water. Our commitment to first-class ingredients includes using Rishiri kelp for soup stock, dried mejika (auxis, also known as frigate tuna), urume (junme) , and katsuo (bonito flakes). No artificial flavors, coloring, or preservatives are used. We prepare our food as if it were a gift from nature.

Enjoy the Taste of Owariya Soba
Around the World.

Owariya delivers products throughout Japan so that you can enjoy the taste of our soba and soup stock at home. Our dried soba products are made with the same buckwheat (soba) grown by farmers in Northern Hokkaido that you eat at our main restaurant. Additive-free concentrated soup stock is made with dried kelp, mejika (auxis, also known as frigate tuna), urume (junme) , and katsuo (bonito flakes). This concentrated soup stock (dashi) is naturally delicious and makes a great gift or cooking option, not just for soba, but as a substitute for soy sauce in innumerable dishes.

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