Information of Shops

Gomafukudo

The sight of staff grinding sesame seeds with a pestle and mortar at the storefront catches the eyes of people walking along Nishiki-koji Street. The entrance to the shop is filled with the delicious aroma of freshly ground sesame seeds. "Sesame seeds are supposed to be ground by pounding rather than rubbing the pestle over them," they say. "A bitter taste is inevitably produced when sesame seeds are ground by rubbing." This store specializes in sesame, offering a variety of sesame snacks and seasonings, its signature product being the pestle-pounded golden sesame seeds.

• Pestled, Golden Sesame

Kyotanba

The demonstration sales in the storefront will make you stop in your tracks. Kyotanba sells mainly roasted chestnuts and other products from Tanba, an area northwest of Kyoto City famous for its agricultural produce, and its signature product, "Yakipon," is made with an improved version of the old-fashioned grain-puffing machine, using only carefully selected chestnuts, and roasted to a fragrant, sweet flavor. It is healthy because it is additive-free, maintaining the natural flavor. The chestnuts can be easily removed from their shells. Please enjoy the full flavor of the natural chestnuts.

• Roasted chestnuts

Kuwatou

A lineup of freshly cooked food invites passersby. The charm of this restaurant is that you can enjoy grilled and deep-fried seafood skewers all year round. It is a perfect place for when you feel a little hungry. This is an eat-in and take-out establishment, so you can eat the freshly cooked food in the shop, or you can take it home to enjoy.

• Seafood Restaurant

Notoyo

This is a shop specializing in river fish, of which there are only a few in Kyoto and only three in Nishiki Market. The products lined up in the store are fileted, cut into chunks, and cooked in large pots in the back of the store, where they also prepare products for wholesale delivery to kaiseki restaurants.

• River Fish

Maruyata

This shop's customers include Michelin Guide restaurants, long-established ryokan (Japanese-style inns), and famous ryotei (Japanese-style restaurants). Their main product is live fish swimming in fish tanks at the back of the store. The storefront is lined with fish that are about to be sent to customers in Tokyo, other parts of Japan, and even overseas. This popularity is due to the shop's unique preparation techniques, such as ikejime (a method of preparing live fish that maintains the quality of its meat).

• Fresh Fish

Fufusa Rouho

This is a specialty store of Kyoto-style nama-fu (raw cakes of wheat gluten used in cooking. Unlike most fu in Japan that are sold as dried products, in Kyoto, they are often used in the form of soft, chewy cakes.) that manufactures, wholesales, and retails fu at this location. The store dates back to the Tempo era (1831-1845). It sells a variety of fu, including shiro (white), awa (millet), and yomogi (Japanese mugwort). Other products include "fu dengaku" (fu seasoned with dengaku miso) and "fu manju" (an aonori seaweed fu bun filled with red bean paste).

• Namafu

Azumaya

The owner's desire to "cherish the atmosphere of Nishiki Market" can be felt in the plaster walls and the interior using lots of wood. The shop is passionate about sourcing sweets produced in Kyoto and sells cute sweets in small portions, making it a fun experience to shop there. It is exciting just to look at the kohaku-to (confection of brightly colored, melted agar-agar), which are like jewels that you can eat. Their lineup of dry confections made with wasanbon sugar changes with the seasons.

• Old-fashioned sweets, Miso

Yubakichi

A sign at the entrance of the store says it was established in Nishiki Market in 1790. Since then, Yubakichi has been dedicated to yuba (soy milk skin). It is the only shop that both sells and produces yuba in Nishiki Market. They have been able to continue to make yuba here because of Nishiki's groundwater, they say. The current owner is the ninth generation since the establishment of the store, and he still stubbornly maintains the store's traditional handmade methods.

• Kyo Yuba

KAI

This shop specializes in furikake (a condiment to sprinkle on rice), delicacies, and snacks. The front of this store is different from other stores in that it is set up like a counter, where products are lined up in rows. Almost all of the products on display are available for tasting. It is fun to listen to the explanations given by the staff while trying various products.

• Delicacies, Furikake

Masugo East

The shop's name is derived from the sake brewing business that they operated in the mid-Edo period in Nishikyogoku, Kyoto. The current business of producing and selling Kyoto pickles began in 1930. They have three stores in Nishiki Market, and the East Shop offers a variety of tasty pickles sold in relatively small portions to meet today's demands, with portions just enough to enjoy with one meal.

• Kyo Pickles