きしめん

Japanese

Alternative forms

• 棊子麺, 碁子麺, きし麺

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) きしめん [kìshíméń] (Heiban – [0])
• (Tokyo) きしめん [kìshíꜜmèǹ] (Nakadaka – [2])
• IPA^(key): [kʲiɕimẽ̞ɴ]

Etymology 1

Likely a borrowing from early Mandarin 碁子麵 / 碁子面 (qízi miàn) or Cantonese 碁子麵 / 碁子面 (kei⁴ zi² min⁶), or possibly from late Middle Chinese 碁子麵 (*ghiə *tziə̌ *mien?, literally “go-stone dough”), imported by Japanese Zen monks who had traveled to China to study. Mentioned in the 貞丈雑記 (Teijō Zakki), a work of historical research written by 伊勢貞丈 (Ise Sadatake) during the years 1763-1784.

These were apparently called go-stone dough from the way the dough is punched into shapes resembling the stones used to play 碁 (go, “the game of go”).

Noun

きしめん • (kishimen) 

1. (rare) a kind of disc-shaped food similar to a dumpling

   Made by kneading wheat flour into a dough, stretching it out into a long flat strip, and then using the end of a piece of bamboo to punch out disc-shaped dumplings. Boiled and then served sprinkled with nutty-tasting 黄な粉 (kinako, “soybean powder”).

Etymology 2

きしめん (kishimen): a bowl of kishimen, clearly showing the distinctive wide flat noodles.

Unknown. The more likely theories include the following:

• This style of flat udon noodle was developed in the 紀州 (Kishū) region, leading to one theory that Kishū men (“Kishū noodles”) contracted over time into kishimen.
• This style of noodle was also sometimes served topped with ground 雉 (kiji, “pheasant”), leading to another theory that kishimen might have been a dialectal or corrupted variant of kiji men (“pheasant noodles”).
• Lastly, this term might have developed from the kishimen dumpling, by not punching out the dumpling shapes and simply cutting the flat strip of dough into noodles instead.

Noun

きしめん • (kishimen) 

1. a style of flat udon noodle particularly popular in Aichi prefecture

Usage notes

Although kanji spellings exist, this term is most commonly written in hiragana.

Synonyms

• 平打(ひらう)ちうどん (hirauchi udon): flat-pounded udon