Rather than soba in Shinshu and Shinano... Soba culture moved to the Sanin area with the change of country (Matsue and Izushi)

The Echizen Matsudaira family has been a prestigious family since Tokugawa Ieyasu's second son, Hideyasu Yuki, joined Echizen Kitanosho, but their third son, Naomasa, was active in the Osaka castle war and had a good relationship with Shogun Iemitsu. After the rule of Kyogoku clan, he succeeded the Izumo Matsue domain and became a kunimochi daimyo(feudal lord who possess at least one fief). It was a great rise from the Shinshu Matsumoto Domain's 70,000 koku to the Matsue Domain's 186,000 koku, but strangely, both castles have existing castle towers, which are only 12 ones at present, and are designated as national treasures. When you go to Matsumoto Castle, you will see a slightly protruding moon viewing turret next to the beautiful castle tower, which was apparently built by Naomasa in case Shogun Iemitsu stops by on his way back from visiting Zenkoji Temple. When Naomasa moved to Matsue in 1638, he apparently took soba craftsmen from Shinshu with him, which is where today's Izumo soba originates. The 7th generation Harusato (Fumai ko), famous as an elegant feudal lord, loved soba and would go to eat it at food stalls and introduced soba to kaiseki cuisine, so it may be because of him that we can eat soba at the end of the kaiseki cuisines course. When you think of Izumo soba, you get the image of it being served in layers of wariko, and it is said that the soba meat, including the skin, is ground using a stone mill, which gives it a stronger aroma.  

The Sengoku family is famous for Hidehisa, who was appointed by Hideyoshi Toyotomi, but he was once held responsible for the defeat to the Shimazu army at the Battle of Bekki river and was exiled to Mt. Koya as penalty. Nobuchika, the proud heir of Motochika Chosokabe, lost his life under Hidehisa's unsavory leadership, but Ryotaro Shiba wrote a novel called ``Natsukusa no Zoku'' about how this happened, and how Motochika was disappointed in him afterwards and appointed Morichika as a heir. It wrote about how the future of the Chosokabe family takes a turn for the worse since then.

On the other hand, Hidehisa later played an active role in the attack on Odawara, returned to daimyo status, entered the shogunate system, and became the Shinshu Komoro domain (later the Ueda domain), holding 60,000 koku. During the reign of his great-great-grandson Masaaki, he moved to Tajima Izushi, and also brought along soba craftsmen with him. Izushi soba is served on five small plates, and locals even hold eating contests in the form of Wanko soba. There are many sights to see, such as Castle in the Sky, Naoya Shiga's Kinosaki Onsen, and the ruins of the medieval Yamana clan, which I definitely want to visit soon. Don't forget about crabs in winter.  

I visited Koshu Tenmokuzan Seiunji Temple a few months ago, and there was a monument marking the birthplace of soba cutting, and I thought it originated in Yamanashi Prefecture, but when I checked the web, I found an article that said it was in Shiojiri, Nagano Prefecture, will also appear. I don't know much about the history of soba, but I would like to continue my efforts to find delicious soba restaurants.