Information of Shops

Kikuya

As one would expect from a Nishiki Market delicacy store, Kikuya has shelves after shelves of unique foods. There are many rare items, and even just looking through the shelves and refrigerators is exciting. There are more than 400 items. Not only are there seafood delicacies, such as karasumi (dried salted mullet roe pouch) and sea urchin, but also frozen foods, ingredients for tea ceremonies, nuts, dried fruits, etc. You will find a wide range of rare and tasty products. Kikuya is not only a shop with a wide variety of snacks that go well with drinks. It is also a shop that supports the growing appreciation of Kyoto’s cuisine.

• Delicacies

Minoyoshi

In a word, Minoyoshi is a cereal store, but that does not describe it wholly. It has beans such as black soya beans and azuki beans meant to be cooked at home. It has confectionery ingredients such as Wasanbon sugar and kanbaiko rice flour that are used in Japanese confectionery shops. It also has dried bracken fern starch and frozen konjac jelly used in kaiseki cuisine for special tea ceremonies. There are also a variety of items that, at first glance, even locals wonder what they are used for.

• Beansand Cereals

Tsunoya

With the motto of "always procuring fish in the best condition," this store has been in operation since 1928. It is now run by its third-generation owner and has been in business for over 90 years. They deal in salted and dried fish, and their main products are chirimenjako (dried baby sardines), guji (tilefish), and overnight-dried flounder and barracuda. They are especially particular about Wakasa seafood and delicacies such as heshiko (fermented fish) and Wakasa flounder.

• Wakasa

Nishiki Kofukudo

A delicious sight. This is a storefront that fits such words. Kyoto is a city that places great importance on the customs of each season. You can feel and taste Kyoto with sweets associated with these customs. Kofukudo, founded in 1868, has had its main store near the Gojo Ohashi Bridge (now Matsubara Bridge) for 150 years. The specialty Gojo Giboshi Monaka is a monaka made in the motif of a giboshi (a type of ornamental finial used on Japanese railings) decorating the parapets of the Gojo Ohashi Bridge.

• Japanese Confectionery

Yamadashiya

Whenever you pass by the shop, the aroma of hojicha (roasted tea), which the owner roasts day in and day out, invites you to come in. In Kyoto, hojicha is called “bancha.” The "ban" in "bancha" is the same as the "ban" in "obanzai" (home cooking), meaning "for daily use," so there is a theory that "bancha" was originally called as such because it was a tea commonly drunk in the home.

• Tea

Terawaki

"A stationery shop in Nishiki Market?" you may think. The family running it had been greengrocers since the Edo period (1603-1867), had opened a greengrocery store in Nishiki Market during WWII, and 30 years later, the store became a stationery shop because there was no one to take over the greengrocery business. "The slightly retro stationery is surprisingly popular," they say.

• Stationery

Nomura Tsukudani

Nomura Tsukudani has an ample selection—about 100 kinds!—of tsukudani (food boiled in soy sauce). There are also products sold by weight for home use. Nomura Tsukudani has inherited the tradition of carefully making various products little by little since their early days when they were a delicatessen, which was still rare at the time.

• Kyo Tsukudani

Watahan

Founded in 1897, this shop has a history of over 120 years. Counted from the first owner, Hanshichi Watanabe, the current owner is the fourth generation. The store began as a retailer of fresh fish and now focuses on the preparation, processing, and sales of seafood such as fugu (puffer fish), pike conger eel, and oysters. In addition to small packs of sashimi such as wild sea bream, kampachi (greater amberjack), and blood clams, oysters with shells and deep-fried fugu are also available.

• Fresh Fish

Kanehide

This shop mainly wholesales to high-end restaurants. It orders rare seafood that cannot be found in other stores from all over Japan – Hokkaido to Kyushu. "We also go to Akashi, Maizuru, and Miyazu to purchase directly," the owner says. They also do retail sales to the general public.

• Fresh Fish

Takenaga

Black soybean snacks and dried seafood products fill this shop. The common point is that they are good for health. The shop's recommended dried products in bags include sea bream, anago conger eel, wakame seaweed, seared sardines, and shrimp. The fruit sandwiches, an unexpected addition to this store's merchandise, come in many varieties, such as strawberry, papaya, fig, and grape.

• Salted dried fish