Information of Shops

Nishiki Satake Flower Shop

Satake is one of the largest flower shops in Kyoto in terms of variety and quantity. The spacious, bright shop is filled with fresh flowers and potted plants.
Fresh flowers are newly stocked on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and potted plants on Tuesdays and Thursdays. They can meet various requests for celebrations and Buddhist ceremonies.

• Florist

Konnyaku Shabon

“Wow, it’s so bouncy!” People strolling along Nishiki are often surprised by the colorful, foamy soaps and stop to have a touch of the massive lump of lather. The soaps are Konnyaku Shabonn (from the French word “savon” for soap) made from the starch of konjac yam. The products were created by focusing on the ceramides and scrubbing effects of konjac. It leaves the skin moist and smooth.

• Japanese cosmetics

Marutsune

“Even today, we stubbornly use a stone mortar to make our surimi fish paste,” they say. “With stainless steel, the material does not stick to the edge, but with a stone mortar, the material sticks to the edge, so you have to stir it many times to get the surimi to blend. Oddly enough, that's what makes it so good. In fact, there used to be several stores in Nishiki Market that made and sold fish pastes and fried fish cakes, but this store is now the only one. We make not only fish cakes for oden (vegetables and fish cakes cooked in dashi stock) and authentic kamaboko fish cakes, but also creative fried fish cakes.”

• Fish cake

Notoyo West

Notoyo West opened in 1963 as the west branch of the river fish specialty shop Notoyo. Their merchandise is exactly the same as that of the main store, but their specialty is kabayaki eel grilled over binchotan charcoal. They use Nishiki's groundwater for everything except washing. Since they sell freshwater fish, Nishiki's groundwater is indispensable to keep them alive. Freshness is the main selling point of their grilled fish.

• River Fish

Ajisai Notoyo

If you go up the stairs next to the Notoyo West Shop, you will find a machiya-style restaurant there. The time here passes slowly—a refreshing change from the hustle and bustle of the marketplace. The eel is grilled carefully in the restaurant using binchotan charcoal, so the skin is crispy, and the taste of the special sauce made with a secret recipe is unbelievably delicious. Eel rice bowl, eel set meal, koi-no-arai (hot-water-washed and then cooled carp), and, on weekdays only, hitsumabushi (similar to eel teriyaki on rice) are available.

• Restaurant

Ikemasa tei

Ikemasa-tei used to be a greengrocer famous for its ornamental vegetable carvings. It eventually began serving food in the back of the store and has now become a set meal restaurant during the day and an izakaya (Japanese style bar-restaurant) at night. You can enjoy Kyoto's home-style dishes, called obanzai, such as yuba soy milk skin with spinach, mizuna (Japanese mustard leaves) cooked with fried tofu skin, and steamed turnip with minced fish, at reasonable prices.

• Restaurant

Nishiki Hanatsune

“We are always striving to sell flowers at the most reasonable prices in the world,” they say.

“We want our customers to enjoy flowers more easily in their daily lives, so we have a large selection of top-class domestic and foreign flowers, rare varieties, flowers for tea ceremony rooms, and branches at reasonable prices for our customers to choose from.”

• Florist

Sundrug

When you suffer from a physical ailment while traveling, you may wish to seek advice on over-the-counter medicine. This is a large drugstore that carries a wide range of products, including not only pharmaceuticals, but also cosmetics and health food products. It is also helpful when you want to replenish your regular supplements and cosmetics during your travels.

• Drugstore

Hosokawa

Hosokawa is a retailer offering clothing, hand towels, handkerchiefs, specially processed T-shirts, and even monpe (Japanese work pants). It is also the only store in Kyoto where you can buy food models. The well-made models for pudding, fruit parfait, and other foods are a marvel to look at.

• Clothing

Ookuniya

Founded in 1912, this river fish shop is famous for its eels. Although the store has a small frontage, its reputation resonates far and wide. They insist on domestic eels from Aichi Prefecture and natural eels from the Seto Inland Sea caught in Kojima Bay, Okayama Prefecture. They are carefully grilled over charcoal with a secret sauce. The store’s fourth-generation owner follows the cooking method handed down for generations.

• River Fish