What do you recommend?

Our signature Beef & Gobo Tempura Udon (¥1,300) — big gobo tempura, beef and green onion. The chilled bukkake is great too, as it really shows off the noodles' springy koshi.

What is Buzen Urauchikai?

A school of udon born in Fukuoka/Kitakyūshū, founded in the late 1990s by Kazuhiro Yokoyama of Tsudaya Kanbei. If orthodox Sanuki udon is the 'front', they take the 'back' — hence the name. Takanekoya is the first to bring it to Nagoya. Official site: https://urauchi.info/

Where are you and what are your hours?

2-8-8 Nago, Nishi-ku, Nagoya, Aichi (in the Endōji Honmachi arcade). Open 11:00–15:00 / 17:00–21:00 (last order 10 minutes before closing), closed Tuesdays. Walkable from subway Kokusai Center and Sengenchō stations.

No parking is available. We recommend public transport.

Buzen Urauchikai Udon — first in Nagoya

Real Fukuoka udon,
slurped in Endōji.

Translucent aged noodles with a real, springy koshi.
A clean, savory dashi and freshly fried tempura.
Udon, in the Endōji Honmachi arcade.

SCROLL

Our Noodle

One slurp, and you taste
the real Fukuoka.

Buzen Urauchikai, beloved across Fukuoka, has arrived in Nagoya's Endōji Honmachi arcade for the very first time. Freshly made koshi, a springy elastic bite, a clean finish — every bowl carries the craftsman's hand.

Translucent aged noodles Springy & chewy Buzen Urauchikai

Just-boiled noodlesAged noodle

Buzen Urauchikai

If Sanuki is the "front,"
we take the "back."

Buzen Urauchikai is a school of udon craftsmen founded in the late 1990s by Kazuhiro Yokoyama, master of the famed "Tsudaya Kanbei" in Kokura-minami, Kitakyūshū. If the orthodox Sanuki method is the "front," they deliberately take the "back" — and that spirit gives the school its name. Their singular udon, obsessively refined in both noodle and dashi, has spread beyond Kyushu to Tokyo, Mie and Okayama. Takanekoya is the first place to taste that bowl in Nagoya.

1990s

Founded in Kitakyūshū

40+

Shops nationwide

1st

First in Nagoya

Visit the official Buzen Urauchikai site →

An amber dashi drawn from Rausu kelp, katsuobushi, mackerel and sardine flakes — the Buzen Urauchikai base — finished with dried shiitake — a touch the chef carried over from the shop where he trained. The giant disc of gobo tempura spilling over the bowl is a Takanekoya original too, not part of the school’s standard.

Our Story

A translucent udon of fate.

The name “Takanekoya” actually comes from the couple’s own names. “Taka” from the chef, Takamoto; “Neko” (cat) from the nickname of his wife, Akane — they built the shop’s name from the names their parents gave them.

The chef was born and raised in Nagoya. A bowl of udon on a business trip to Fukuoka stopped him in his tracks, and he resolved to bring that dashi home. He moved to Fukuoka and trained at a Buzen Urauchikai shop. His wife — born in Kumamoto, raised in Fukuoka, with a background in interior, real estate and design — never imagined she’d one day run an udon shop in Nagoya.

The two met in Fukuoka. By chance, the very shop where he trained was her favorite udon place. Bonding over food, drinks and baseball, they married just eight months after meeting — and the next year moved to Nagoya to open Takanekoya. Not a red thread of fate, but a “translucent udon of fate.” This little Endōji udon shop is run by the two of them.

The ownersTakanekoya

Our Vessels器のはなし

If the udon is from Kyushu, so are the bowls.

Onta-yaki小鹿田焼

Onta-yaki — folk pottery

A 300-year-old Kyushu craft

Our bowls are Onta-yaki, a folk pottery from Hita in Oita, fired for some three hundred years in a valley once called "the most beautiful folk kiln in the world." Just nine family kilns carry it on, each passing the craft to a single child — tobikanna chatter-marks, brushed slip and combed lines giving every piece a quiet, grounding warmth.

Served器に盛る

Made to order

Served in a hand-thrown bowl

We traveled to the village ourselves, spoke with the potters time and again, and had these pieces made to order. No artist signs them: this is not one person's work but a "beauty of daily use" handed down by the whole valley. No two are quite alike — and that, too, is proof of the hand that shaped them.

Dashi & Tempura

The supporting cast,
taken seriously.

Clear dashiDashi

Dashi

A refined sweetness, down to the last drop

A gentle, deeply savory dashi drawn from Rausu kelp, katsuobushi, mackerel and sardine flakes, and dried shiitake. The kaeshi uses Kitakyūshū sweet soy (shared across Buzen Urauchikai), made in-house. A broth you’ll want to finish to the very last drop.

Famous goboGobo tempura

Tempura

Our famous giant gobo tempura

Our signature gobo tempura — burdock hand-cut into thin slices, fried in a light, fragrant batter — comes round or loose, your choice. Fried to order, so the coating stays light and crisp. Pile it on the udon, or break it into the dashi.

The Space

What this place remembers.

This spot was once a coffee shop with a marimba classroom. As the old finishes were peeled back one layer at a time during the renovation, the building’s past emerged — a glass terrazzo floor, a mirror-finished ceiling, walls of colored glass.

Rather than tear them out, each was carefully cleaned and kept. Drawing on the colors of the Endōji arcade’s paving and pillars, old and new materials were layered together. The row of pendant lights was commissioned specially from the glass atelier STUDIO PREPA.

The terrazzo underfoot and the light overhead are the time this street and building have gathered. Slurp your Fukuoka udon on top of all of it.

The glass terrazzo floor uncovered in renovation

Glass terrazzo floorTerrazzo

Information

Name	Takanekoya
Address	2-8-8 Nago, Nishi-ku, Nagoya, Aichi (Endōji Honmachi arcade)
Tel	052-564-3559
Hours	Lunch11:00 – 15:00 L.O. 14:50 Dinner17:00 – 21:00 L.O. 20:50
Before you visit	We make our noodles fresh each day and may sell out — please come early.
Status
Closed	Tuesday
Seats	19 seats (tables & counter) / No parking
Access	Walkable from subway Kokusai Center (Sakura-dori) & Sengenchō (Tsurumai) ~12–13 min from Nagoya Station (Sakura-dori exit)

Open in Google Maps →

Takanekoya · The Chef

Menu, picks & directions

Welcome in! I'm the chef of Takanekoya — don't mind the cat face, that's our shop mascot. Ask me anything about our Buzen Urauchikai udon: what to order, how to get here, whatever you like.

Real Fukuoka udon,
slurped in Endōji.

One slurp, and you taste
the real Fukuoka.

If Sanuki is the "front,"
we take the "back."

A translucent udon of fate.