Osawaya’s Mizusawa Udon loved by Taro Okamoto

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Today’s report is about “Osawaya” which serves udon noodles called “Mizusawa Udon” in Shibukawa City, Gunma Prefecture.

Mizusawa Udon, one of the most famous Udon in Japan

“Mizusawa Udon” is known as one of Japan’s three best udon noodles.
About 400 years ago, the local people started to treat the visitors of Mizusawa Temple in Shibukawa City udon noodles which were made with the local Joshu’s (the old name of Gunma) wheat and pure water from Mizusawa Moutain’s spring near the temple.
This is said to be the origin of Mizusawa Udon.

By the way, the other 2 best udon is Sanuki Udon of Kagawa Prefecture and Inaniwa Udon of Akita Prefecture.
These 2 are unchangeable, but the last one sometimes depends on the person or religion.
Some say that the last one is Mizusawa Udon, but others say Goto Udon of Nagasaki, Himi Udon of Toyama, or Kishimen of Aichi.
I was born in Gunma, so my last “three best udon” is Mizusawa Udon.

 

to Osawaya in Ikaho

Well, I was back in my parents’ home on that day.
I came back after a long time, so I went out to find some good story for this blog for driving and good lunch.

The destination was the restaurant “Osawaya” over Ikaho Onsen which was my mother’s recommend.
There are two routes from my home to Ikaho Onsen; one is the shorter way through mountain road, and the other is the longer way which goes on the plain area where the old Nakasendo (the old highway in Edo period) ran.

The weather was nice and it was driving after a long time, so I took the mountain course.
The mountain course partly goes along Akina Mountain… I mean, Haruna Mountain and Haruna Lake. The view is in the next photo.

By the way, this mountain is called “Haruna Fuji” because the shape looks like Mt. Fuji. Just as it looks like.
After the downhill road which a famous tofu maker showed many exciting races on (I’m talking about a cartoon “Initial D”. Haruna Mountain appears in it as a different name “Akina Mountain”.), I got to the town of Ikaho Onsen.

 

About Taro Okamoto & Osawaya

After going down further, I arrived at Mizusawa Temple’s town where many Udon restaurants are located in.

The board at the left side of the entrance tells a story about this restaurant.

Taro Okamoto who is a famous artist for his arts “Tower of Sun” (it stands in “Expo’70 Commemorative Park”, Osaka) and “Myth of Tomorrow” (it is displayed in Sibuya station between JR exit and Keio-Inogashira Line Exit), and words “Art is an explosion!” loved this restaurant’s udon so much and often visited there.

The rock beside the board has Taro’s handwritten letters carved on it.
The inside of the building, there was a big room of Zashiki seats on Tatami floor (Japanese traditional style seats and floor), and there were 4 pictures which looked like Taro Okamoto’s arts. (I took some pictures of them, but I’m not sure whether I can put them here or not, so I don’t.) According to my mother, there were more pictures before.

The restaurant I visited was “the second store”, but this “second” started before “the first”, and the one which Taro visited should be this “second” one.

 

Mizusawa Udon Taro Okamoto loved

Now, the staff guided us to the table seats, not Zashiki seats.

It was better than Zashiki seats for me because my body is stiff and didn’t have to sit on the floor.
I checked the menu.

Although they had set menus,

I followed my mother’s recommend to order single large zaru-udon and,

Tempura of Maitake mushrooms which was a famous menu of this restaurant.
By the way,

They had Japanese sake and

Some small dishes to go with sake, but I could not try it because I had to drive my car.
After a while,

The mushroom tempura arrived first.

And the udon is here!
I believe that the beautiful surface gloss and thickness are the important characteristics of Mizusawa Udon.
Let’s try them!

It was nicely chewy and went through my throat smoothly.
The next is Maitake mushroom tempura.

It was a little too big to eat, but the smell and flavor of Maitake were very good.
There were wasabi paste and Shichimi chili spice for seasoning of udon noodles.

I thought that wasabi was better for these smooth udon rather than chili.

I finished up the udon in a flash. It was so smooth, so I ate them like drinking.
This is a good part of Miusawa Udon, and this is what gives people a pleasant feeling.

Even though there were many customers, it didn’t take much time until the dish was served, and I enjoyed the udon without any stress.
Mizusawa Udon is meant to go with soy sauce-based soup like I had, or soup of sesame sauce.
I want to try the sesame sauce next time, and enjoy Okamoto Taro’s pictures with udon after making my body bendy enough to survive on a Zashiki seat.

 

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