{"id":1598,"date":"2015-12-28T18:00:32","date_gmt":"2015-12-29T02:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.zojirushi.com\/blog\/?p=1598"},"modified":"2015-11-20T13:50:32","modified_gmt":"2015-11-20T21:50:32","slug":"deliberate-customs-tradition-of-toshikoshi-soba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zojirushi.com\/blog\/deliberate-customs-tradition-of-toshikoshi-soba\/","title":{"rendered":"Deliberate Customs:\u00a0 Tradition of Toshikoshi Soba"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.zojirushi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/toshikoshisoba01.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-1600\" src=\"https:\/\/www.zojirushi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/toshikoshisoba01.jpg\" alt=\"toshikoshisoba01\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cMay you live a long, thin life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As 2015 comes to an end, we hope you have a moment to be a part of the quintessentially Japanese tradition of enjoying <em>toshikoshi soba <\/em>on New Year\u2019s Eve. For hundreds of years, Japanese families have shared this tradition as part of a year-end festivities. <em>Toshikoshi<\/em> means \u201cjump from the old year to the new\u201d. In the days leading up to the end of the year, families clean their homes from top to bottom, sweeping out the old and worn and stale to make room for a fresh and clean new year. Business dealings are finalized, loose ends tied and financial matters are settled. And, in between parties and revelry, families gather at home on the final day of the year to be close, enjoy a warm bowl of thin buckwheat <em>soba<\/em> noodles in broth, watch TV together and reflect, listening to the sounds of the bells from Shinto shrines ringing 108 times, banishing the traditional 108 evils.<\/p>\n<p>According to Japanese tradition, eating <em>toshikoshi<\/em> <em>soba<\/em> noodles on New Year\u2019s Eve is rooted in legend. One story says that the tradition began during the 13<sup>th<\/sup> or 14<sup>th<\/sup> centuries during the <em>Kamakura<\/em> or <em>Muromachi<\/em> periods, when wealthy feudal lords would feed their citizens the last meal of the year to represent their power and strength. Another legend states that eating <em>toshikoshi<\/em> <em>soba<\/em> began during the <em>Edo<\/em> period in what is now Tokyo. During that time, the merchant class began eating <em>soba<\/em> noodles that were made with the same type of fine <em>soba<\/em> flour used by goldsmiths to gather leftover gold dust. Eating soba noodles made from the same type of flour signified wealth and prosperity. Eating <em>toshikoshi soba<\/em> at the end of the year symbolized strength and resiliency, as the buckwheat plant would survive rain and wind. The thin noodles were also thought to represent a long life and the ease with which they were eaten represented the ease of cutting off troubles from the past year.<\/p>\n<p>Regardless of the basis of the tradition, sharing a bowl of <em>soba<\/em> noodles is a treasured experience, full of comfort and warmth.<\/p>\n<p>As the New Year approaches, we wish everyone a \u201clong, thin life\u2026 full of good fortune and peace.\u201d Happy 2016!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cMay you live a long, thin life.\u201d As 2015 comes to an end, we hope you have a moment to be a part of the quintessentially Japanese tradition of enjoying toshikoshi soba on New Year\u2019s Eve. For hundreds of years, Japanese families have shared this tradition as part of a year-end festivities. Toshikoshi means \u201cjump [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,16,58,57],"class_list":["post-1598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-from-zojirushi-america","tag-happynewyear","tag-japan","tag-longlife","tag-soba"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.1 (Yoast SEO v27.1.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Deliberate Customs:\u00a0 Tradition of Toshikoshi Soba - Zojirushi Food &amp; Culture Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.zojirushi.com\/blog\/deliberate-customs-tradition-of-toshikoshi-soba\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Deliberate Customs:\u00a0 Tradition of Toshikoshi Soba\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cMay you live a long, thin life.\u201d As 2015 comes to an end, we hope you have a moment to be a part of the quintessentially Japanese tradition of enjoying toshikoshi soba on New Year\u2019s Eve. For hundreds of years, Japanese families have shared this tradition as part of a year-end festivities. Toshikoshi means \u201cjump [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.zojirushi.com\/blog\/deliberate-customs-tradition-of-toshikoshi-soba\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Zojirushi Food &amp; Culture Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/zojirushiusa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-12-29T02:00:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.zojirushi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/toshikoshisoba01.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Zojirushi America Corporation\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@zojirushiusa\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@zojirushiusa\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Zojirushi America Corporation\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zojirushi.com\/blog\/deliberate-customs-tradition-of-toshikoshi-soba\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zojirushi.com\/blog\/deliberate-customs-tradition-of-toshikoshi-soba\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Zojirushi America Corporation\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zojirushi.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/dab91f185d78e3c0414a7174a6598b10\"},\"headline\":\"Deliberate Customs:\u00a0 Tradition of Toshikoshi Soba\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-12-29T02:00:32+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zojirushi.com\/blog\/deliberate-customs-tradition-of-toshikoshi-soba\/\"},\"wordCount\":379,\"commentCount\":4,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zojirushi.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zojirushi.com\/blog\/deliberate-customs-tradition-of-toshikoshi-soba\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.zojirushi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/toshikoshisoba01.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"HappyNewYear\",\"Japan\",\"longlife\",\"soba\"],\"articleSection\":[\"From Zojirushi America\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.zojirushi.com\/blog\/deliberate-customs-tradition-of-toshikoshi-soba\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.zojirushi.com\/blog\/deliberate-customs-tradition-of-toshikoshi-soba\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.zojirushi.com\/blog\/deliberate-customs-tradition-of-toshikoshi-soba\/\",\"name\":\"Deliberate Customs:\u00a0 Tradition of Toshikoshi Soba - Zojirushi Food &amp; 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