Jindaiji soba noodles

The area around Jindaiji Temple is not suited to rice production, so during the Edo period, tenant farmers planted buckwheat (soba) and paid the temple in soba flour instead of rice. The temple then pounded the rice into noodles and used it as a way to welcome guests. So goes the story of how Jindaiji Temple soba was born.

Jindaiji soba became famous when Koben Hosshinno, Fifth Chief Abbot of Ueno Kaneiji Temple (the head temple to which Jindaiji belongs), became enchanted with it and began telling the people around him, and eventually daimyo all over Japan, how good it was.

Jindaiji soba became well-known as a result, with many families sending people on journeys to the temple to get it. This then earned it the nickname "kenjo soba," or "offering soba."

According to another legend, the third shogun, Tokugawa Iemitsu, stopped by for Jindaiji soba on a falconry expedition and ended up singing its praises.

Soba restaurants around Jindaiji Temple

The map below introduces the area around Jindaiji Temple in Chofu City.

Download the map.

Note: There are no convenience stores or ATMs in the area around Jindaiji.