Protected local food
Taishu Soba
対州そば
Native buckwheat from Tsushima, an island between Kyushu and Korea. It has small grains and a deep, slightly bitter flavour close to the original buckwheat.
Key facts
- Registered as a protected name
- 9 April 2018
- Region
- Kyushu & Okinawa
- Official name in Japanese
- 対州そば
- Official area (in Japanese)
- 長崎県対馬市
Where buckwheat first arrived
Buckwheat travelled to Japan from China by way of the Korean Peninsula, and Tsushima lies right on that route. It is thought to be the first place in Japan that buckwheat reached. Taishu is the old name for Tsushima, an island in Nagasaki Prefecture.
Close to the original
Because Tsushima is an island, the local buckwheat rarely crossed with other types, and growers and the city have kept the native seed going. The grains are small but even and well filled. The flavour is rich, with a slight bitterness close to that of the wild ancestor.
How to eat it
On Tsushima, order a simple bowl of cold soba to taste the buckwheat itself. Island soba shops serve it hot too.
Good to know
- Tsushima is reached by plane or ferry from Fukuoka. It is closer to Busan in South Korea than to mainland Japan.
- In Nagasaki, also try Nagasaki Karasumi, cured mullet roe.
Questions travellers ask
What does Taishu mean?
It is the old name for Tsushima, an island in Nagasaki Prefecture.
Is Taishu soba gluten-free?
Buckwheat itself has no gluten, but many soba noodles are mixed with wheat flour. Ask the restaurant.
Where it comes from
More protected foods from the same area
Crafts from the same area
Heritage stories from the same area
- Hakone Hachiri: walking the Edo stone road over Hakone
- Hizen: the birthplace of Japanese porcelain
- Iki, Tsushima and Goto: Japan's border islands
- Sakura, Narita, Sawara and Choshi: the Edo closest to the airport
- The Murakami Kaizoku: sea lords of the Geiyo Islands
- The Sugar Road: sweets along the Nagasaki Kaido
- Yatsushiro's stonemasons: the bridge builders of Japan
- Yokosuka, Kure, Sasebo and Maizuru: Japan's naval port cities
Sources
We checked the facts on this page against these sources.