The noodles run three to four millimeters, considerably thinner than ordinary udon. The reason is the naval arsenal that stood in this town.

Before the war a very large number of people worked there, and they had to be fed quickly. The noodles grew thinner and softer over time in response to that, and both changes serve the same purpose. A thin noodle boils faster. It is also eaten faster. If something came up, a man could be back at his bench.

The stock at some shops is drawn from kombu, mackerel flakes, round herring flakes, and soy sauce from Etajima across the water. A thin noodle also carries more broth clinging to it, which was not the reason for the change but is part of why it works.

One place draws it in a purpose-made double-walled pot, heated in a water bath rather than directly, which is said to round off the edge of it. The arsenal is gone, and has been for eighty years. The town kept the noodle anyway, and people in Kure will still tell you that udon means thin udon. It is eaten alongside chirimenjako and egg in this town, at breakfast, as a matter of course. A noodle cut down so that men could hurry is now what gets eaten on days when nobody is hurrying at all.