Origin
What was the origin of Udon that took place in 1241?
Udon
There are many stories explaining the origin of udon. One story says that in AD.1241, Enni, a Rinzai monk, introduced flour milling technology to Japan. Floured crops were then made into noodles such as udon, soba, and pancakes which were eaten by locals. Milling techniques were spread around the country. In the Edo period, the thicker wheat noodle was generally called udon, and served with a hot broth called nurumugi(温麦). The chilled variety was called hiyamugi(冷麦). Another story states that in Nara period, a Japanese envoy was introduced to 14 kinds of confection whilst in Tang Dynasty China. One of them was called sakubei(索餅). Sakubei was listed as 'muginawa'(牟義縄) on Shin Senji Kyo(新撰字鏡), a dictionary which was published in Heian Era. The muginawa is believed to be an origin for many kinds of Japanese noodles. However, the muginawa listed on Shin Senji Kyo(新撰字鏡) was made with wheat and rice flour. Another historical story for udon claims that the original name of the noodle was 'konton', which was made with wheat flour and sweet fillings. Yet another story says that a Buddhist priest called Kukai introduced udon noodles to Shikoku during the Heian Era. In China, similar thick wheat flour noodles are called "cū miàn" (粗麵). This noodle was 2 to 3 mm in diameter, a flat pancake-shaped "noodle" added to miso-based soup. The Sino-Japanese characters for udon (饂飩) is similar to, but different from, the modern Chinese characters for wonton, which is called hún dùn in Mandarin (馄炖), a type of dumplings. In Chinese, udon noodles are called "wūdōngmiàn" (烏冬 "wūdōng" or 烏冬麵), and sometimes "wūlóngmiàn" (烏龍麵), which has the same characters as those used in "Oolong" tea ("wūlóngchá", 烏龍茶), though there is no semantic relation between the two usages.Kūkai, the Buddhist priest, traveled to China around the beginning of the 9th century to study. Sanuki Province claimed to have been the first to adopt udon noodles from Kūkai. Hakata claimed to have produced udon noodles based on Enni's recipe.