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Morioka and Wankosoba

Following the Meiji government’s adoption of municipal districting, Morioka was one of Japan’s first cities. Once home to the mysterious Emishi, a non-Japanese people probably related to (or even identical with, no one is certain) the Ainu of Hokkaido, by the end of the Heian era the area was under the political control of the Oshu Fujiwara clan, based in the city of Hiraizumi.

In 1597, Nambu Nobunao chose a hill above the confluence of the Kitakami and Nakatsugawa Rivers as the site for a new castle. Construction took 35 years, and in the years that followed the new castle town prospered. Local products included gold, fine horses and seafood, and trade with other districts was brisk. The castle was destroyed in the struggles to establish the Meiji restoration, but the walls still stand and Morioka has grown into a pleasant city of about 300,000.

There’s not a great deal here in terms of sightseeing, but Morioka is well known for some of its local foods and is also an excellent jumping-off point for hikers wishing to explore the network of trails lacing the Hachimantai plateau, a volcanic terrace spreading across portions of Iwate and Akita prefectures. The town also draws visitors for its Chagu-Chagu Umakko festival on the second Saturday each June, when one hundred richly adorned horses make a 15 kilometer trek to the gates of Morioka’s Hachiman-gu Shrine, where they are thanked for their hard work during the rice-planting season.

Many people travel to Morioka just to sample its famous noodle dishes. There are several distinctive local noodles. Reimen, with Korean origins, is a summer dish of cold egg noodles eaten with spicy kimchi and other garnishes, including sliced apples. Ja-ja men is an odd mix of thick white noodles, flavored with garlic pickles and a thick dab of sweet miso. Be sure to mix it well before you eat, since a mouthful of pure miso can be a bit hard to handle.
But the undisputed master dish of Morioka, the one that brings people in from across Japan, is less a dish than an eating contest. Wanko soba is just soba noodles, available throughout the country, with a fairly standard assortment of side dishes and condiments. The difference, though, is that you 're served one bite at a time, with each serving deposited into your bowl by a server whose job is to see that you eat your fill. The meal is finished when you put the lid on your empty bowl, but you’ll have to be fast to beat your server, who can quickly become your tormentor if you’re not careful. In Kevin and Patrick’s case, their server Rika set a challenge of 70 bowls for Kevin and 120 for Patrick. Kevin managed to get the lid on his bowl after 76 servings, while Patrick downed an amazing 183 bowls of soba! Well shy of the record of 560 bowls, he still did well enough to be pronounced the gaijin champion!

>>Access
Tokyo====(141 min. by Shinkansen)====Morioka
Akita====(86 min. by Shinkansen)====Morioka
Hanamaki Airport==== (50 min. by bus)====Morioka

>>Website
Morioka’s Guide (English, German, Chinese)

-Matt Mangham

>>Hotels and Ryokans in Morioka Area