Ryuji Onishi from Kagawa prefecture enjoys eating udon noodles in his newly built home bath.
MITOYO, Dec. 10 — Some people in Kagawa prefecture, western Japan, are keeping alive a dying tradition: eating udon noodles at a newly built home bath.
Udon is a chunky white wheat noodle with straight edges that is a specialty of Kagawa prefecture, and is better known as Sanuki udon.
Ryuji Onishi, 27, enjoys eating udon that his wife cooks at his newly-built home bath in Mitoyo city, west of Kagawa.
His new home was constructed at a site on his 80-year-old grand-father’s land, and Onishi followed the udon tradition.
Onishi’s mother explains: “It starts with the eldest taking a new home bath and then the family takes turns according to age in the bath and with the udon.
“It has been said that this helps spread long life in the family. This tradition has held here for many years,” she smiles.