A narrow covered lane of pickle barrels, tofu makers, knife shops and grilled-eel counters that has fed Kyoto's kitchens for about four centuries.
Nishiki is a single lane, about 400 metres long and barely three metres wide, running parallel to Shijo-dori under a coloured glass roof. Locals call it Kyoto's kitchen.
It began as a fish market, using the cold groundwater below the street to keep the catch fresh, and has been trading for around four centuries. Many of the shops have been run by the same families for generations.
This is where to taste Kyoto's own food: tsukemono pickles in wooden barrels, yuba tofu skin, sweet rolled tamagoyaki omelette, grilled eel, tiny octopus on sticks and anything flavoured with matcha.
At the eastern end, the little shrine of Nishiki Tenmangu sits where the market meets Teramachi; its stone torii is so tight between the buildings that its ends disappear into them.
Start at the quiet end and eat your way to the shrine.
Enter from Takakura-dori at the western end, where the fishmongers and greengrocers still serve restaurants.
Most pickle shops let you taste. Look for thin-sliced turnip and purple shibazuke.
A slab of warm rolled omelette, a yuba croquette or soy-milk doughnuts, eaten at the counter.
The old knife and kitchen shops will engrave your name on a blade while you wait.
Finish at the shrine to Sugawara no Michizane, patron of scholars, then turn into the covered Teramachi arcade.
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Shijo station on the Karasuma subway or Kyoto-Kawaramachi on the Hankyu line; the market is one block north of Shijo-dori.
Most stalls open around 10am and close by late afternoon. Each shop has its own day off, so a few will always be shuttered.
Walking while eating is frowned on, and many shops post signs asking you not to. Eat at the stall, and ask before photographing the food or the people.
Kyoto practical notes →Photographs from Wikimedia Commons and Pexels under their licences.
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