Nishiki Market and Nishiki Tenmangū

In front of you is Nishikikōji, the street of Nishiki Market: about 390 covered metres with some 130 shops selling pickles, fish, tofu, vegetables and sweets. Locals call it “Kyoto’s kitchen”.

1Cold water and fresh fish

The market owes its origin to what lies underground: cold, plentiful water rises here, ideal for keeping fish fresh. Merchants supplying the court settled in this street from very early times, and the fish market grew over the centuries. Fishmongers are still the largest group today.

2The painter who saved the market

Early in the 18th century, Itō Jakuchū was born in this street, the son of a wholesale greengrocer. He would become one of Japan’s most admired painters, famous for his meticulous roosters. But he was also a committed neighbour. In 1771 wholesalers from another district asked the authorities to shut down Nishiki’s vegetable market. Jakuchū, one of the neighbourhood’s elders, led the defence together with the villages that supplied it, and in 1774 the market reopened. The story is known from the market’s own records.

3The trapped torii

At the end of the street stands Nishiki Tenmangū, dedicated to Sugawara no Michizane, patron of students. It moved here in 1587, during Hideyoshi’s reshaping of the city. Its 1935 torii has a quirk: the neighbouring buildings were planned using only the position of the pillars, so the ends of the crossbeam ended up inside their walls.

4What to look for

• The ends of the torii, sunk into the buildings.
• The shrine’s well, famous for its water.
• The colourful roof of the market, looking west.