Udon

Kama-age udon 釜揚うどん, or udon noodles in broth, are a winter seasonal food; apparently it also counts as a winter kigo in haiku poetry. Apparently the Japanese must have felt that eating a bowl of noodles in hot broth was a great thing to do.

Eight years ago today I was in Kyoto. In the morning, I woke up and found the city covered in snow. I spent the next few hours around the Higashiyama area, taking pictures like this one:

Kyoto Snow

February 2005

Digital

By noon, I was near the Sumitomo Museum, and I remembered a small place where I had had lunch on an earlier visit. On my second visit I had a fantastic bowl of udon in broth, which I still remember although I do not remember what else was in it. But I guess the kigo masters are right, it is the broth that is memorable on a snowy day!