Ramen’s Roots Lie in Yokohama’s “Nankin Soba”How the noodles of Nankinmachi became Japanese ramen
Ramen is now Japan’s national dish. Trace it back, and you arrive in Yokohama’s Chinese quarter in the Meiji era.
Chinese noodles have a long history in Japan
Records of noodles from China go back further than you might think. In 1488, in the Muromachi period, there is a record of noodles that seem to have used kansui (alkaline water) being served to guests.
But a dish of Chinese noodles and soup together, the ancestor of today’s ramen, appears only in the Meiji era.
“Nankin soba” in Nankinmachi
After the ports opened, Japanese people called Chinese neighborhoods “Nankinmachi” (Nanjing town). The Chinese noodle soups eaten there came to be called Nankin soba.
An 1884 newspaper advertisement for Yowaken, a shop in Hakodate, lists “Nankin soba, 15 sen.”
After the foreign settlements were abolished in 1899, Chinese cooks in Nankinmachi opened restaurants in earnest, and Chinese food spread among the Japanese.
Why it didn’t catch on at first
In its original form, Nankin soba did not spread widely among the Japanese.
The director of the Shin-Yokohama Ramen Museum suggests that pork flavor may not have suited Japanese tastes so soon after the ban on eating meat was lifted.
Rairaiken in Asakusa makes it Japanese
The turning point came in 1910, when a shop called Rairaiken opened in Asakusa, Tokyo. Its founder, Ozaki Kan’ichi, opened it with twelve Chinese cooks he brought from Yokohama’s Nankinmachi.
Pork-bone and chicken broth, soy sauce seasoning, topped with roast pork, menma (bamboo shoots) and chopped green onion. This light bowl, adjusted to Japanese tastes, is said to be the prototype of today’s ramen. In busy seasons such as New Year, it reportedly served 2,500 to 3,000 customers a day.
From “Nankin soba” to “ramen”
The name changed over time. From the late Meiji into the Taisho era, the dish was called shina soba, the name on Rairaiken’s sign. Later, shina soba was replaced by chuka soba.
Where the word “ramen” came from has no clear answer. A well-known theory says the name was coined in 1922 at Takeya Shokudo, a restaurant in Sapporo, but there are several others.
The earthquake spreads it nationwide
After the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake, cooks who lost their jobs in Tokyo scattered across Japan, carrying ramen to the regions. This is said to be the origin of today’s regional ramen styles.
Sources
This article is an English edition of the Japanese original.