Hoshina Masayuki was the fourth son of Tokugawa Hidetada. In 1631 he became lord of the Takato domain in Shinano; in 1636 he was moved to Yamagata in Dewa, and after that to Aizu. He is described as fond of soba, and he is thought to have carried it into each place he was sent, so that his career reads as a map of where the noodle went.

The soba that came out of Takato was eaten with a dipping liquid made from the pressed juice of pungent daikon, seasoned with miso. In Takato they used to say that a woman who could not cut soba would not find a husband.

In Aizu it took the name of the domain he had held first, and became Takato soba.

The part everyone remembers was added later, and locally. The Misawaya at Ouchijuku is credited with the idea of using a whole spring onion in place of chopsticks. Soba with katsuobushi over it, dipped into a broth carrying grated daikon, and gathered up with the onion, which you also bite into as you go. In 1997 people from the town of Takato visited Aizuwakamatsu, saw a working business built on the name of their own town, and began developing it seriously at home the following year. When a man is moved, his noodles move with him, and sometimes they come back.