In 1963 a small eating house called Menrui Okabe opened in Hikone, serving Kyoto-style udon and soba. What it put out under the name champon was a bowl of noodles heavy with vegetables in a broth built on that same Kyoto stock. Substantial, but light enough to finish, and word of it spread from that one counter until it was the thing the town was known for.

It has almost nothing in common with the Nagasaki dish beyond the word. Nagasaki's is built on chicken and pork bone. This is kombu and katsuobushi, and the broth is clear.

What goes in is cabbage, bean sprouts, spring onion, wood ear, pork, and kamaboko. No seafood at all, which for a dish carrying this name is the surprising part. Nagasaki fries its ingredients in a wok; here everything is simply simmered in a pan.

There is also an instruction about how to eat it. Partway through, you reach for the vinegar on the table and pour some in, which shifts the whole bowl. From Hikone it spread across the prefecture until it acquired the name Omi champon, after the old province. Pickled ginger on the table does the same job for people who want it. Changing the flavor halfway is not an option here. It is part of the method.