The hardness of the outer layer (H1) and of all layers (112) of cooked Japanese wheat noodles was studied using a Tensipresser compression tester. The H2 values of cooked strand, of No,1 Hiyamugi machine-made Sanuki-udon (machine-made), and Inaniwa-udon (hand- stretched) after standing for 0.5 hours were found to be 1.9N, 2.5N and about 4.0 7.1 N, respectively. Both H1 and H2 changed with elapsed time for some noodles, but the H2 H1 ratio assumed a fixed value : about 10 for No. 1 Hivamugi about 8 for Sanuki-udon, and about 13 18 for Inaniea-udon. Proton NMR micro-imaging tMRb of the cookcd Inaniwa-udon showed cavities in the direction of stretching that persisted for more than 6 hours.