soba noodles eaten on New Year’s Eve（Engirisoba)
This is the common name for New Year’s Eve soba (buckwheat noodles), which is eaten on New Year’s Eve. Since soba is one of the easiest noodles to slice, it is said that the name “New Year’s Eve Soba” was derived from the wish to cut off the year’s hardships and misfortunes. The custom of eating soba on New Year’s Eve originally spread among the general public during the Edo period (1603-1867). At that time, the most common type of buckwheat was made from buckwheat flour alone, without wheat flour or other binders, which made it easier to tear into pieces. In the same sense, it is also called “nenkiri soba.
