The History of Nihonbashi Uogashi

— Unearthing the Four-hundred-year History of a Wholesale Fish Market — The History of Nihonbashi Uogashi Part 3: Fish Traveling to Edo By Issei Tomioka Fish-eating culture blossomed in the city of Edo due to an abundant supply of seafood from Edo bay. Lively trading took place every morning at the Uogashi to meet the demand of the fish-loving people. What made such a large-scale business possible? Where did the fish traded at the Uogashi come from? Let’s trace the course of seafood distribution during the Edo period with a look at both the front and back sides of the Uogashi. Early Morning at the Nihon- tubs. Some say he has another business on the side. Weaving bashi Uogashi his way through the crowd, Jirokichi slips into the Uogashi If you were to stand on the through a black gate. Let’s follow him to get a glimpse of Nihonbashi bridge in Edo on a morning trading at the Nihonbashi Uogashi. morning in 1808, the nose-wrin- kling smell of fish would be the first noticeable sense. The Nihonbashi district at the center of Edo was packed with over 300 fish Illustrations Kazan Mori wholesalers. The Nihonbashi (Property of the Wholesales Co-operative of Tokyo Fish Market) Uogashi was considered the great- est business of the time, and was described, “fish are transported here from coasts near and far, by land and by sea, and the markets are extremely busy day and Price codes used in the Uogashi. Nine auspicious characters were used instead of the numbers 1 night,” in the Guide to Famous Edo Sites. through 9. (Property of the Wholesales Co-operative of Tokyo Fish Market) Today, Nihonbashi is situated beneath a major highway, but in its heyday, the Nihonbashi river was a key distribution route No Fixed Prices for Fish jammed with boat traffic. Fresh fish was traded on the north- Jirokichi enters a shop in Honfuna-cho, the main street of the ern side of the river and salted and dried seafood was traded Uogashi. The street is lined on both sides with fish whole- on the southern side at the Yokkaichi market. Many of the salers. Although the buildings are crude, hundreds of these slender, flat-bottomed boats moored along the northern, or Uogashi, side were used as piers. A wide variety of seafood Issei Tomioka Director, Uogashiyaro K.K. caught in Edo bay, off the Pacific coast of the Boso peninsula, Born in Tokyo in 1962, Mr. Tomioka first worked as an event planner for museums and business- and far away in southeastern waters, was delivered by boats es. He later worked in the office of the Tokyo Metropolitan Central Wholesale Market in Tsukiji arriving in continuous succession to these makeshift piers. where he learned first-hand the culture and tradi- Nihonbashi was already crowded with people unloading and tions of one of Japan’s first fish markets, established during the Edo period, which have been carrying fish at around 4:00 a.m., before the first cock had preserved to this day. Ten years ago, Mr. Tomioka began recording the stories of Market even crowed. old timers. With these stories, he began devel- oping the Uogashi-yaro and Tsukiji no Uogashi- By the same early hour, the Nihonbashi bridge was thronged yaro web sites. His trilogy, Uogashi Yonhyakunen, with a variety of people, many of whom were fish vendors car- Kodan Uogashi Nendaiki, and Saigen Nihonbashi Uogashi Chizu, based on broad investigation of rying tubs suspended from poles carried over their shoulders. historical evidence and released on the World Wide Web, have been highly acclaimed. Mr. Tomioka has described the vanishing wholesale fish-market culture, including in- The residents of Edo found these fish vendors, who arrived in depth historical information as well as fantastic stories told by the old timers, from an insider’s perspective. neighborhoods shouting their own unique calls and cleaned the Web sites Uogashi-yaro http://www.sakanaya.co.jp fish they sold, extremely convenient. Let us imagine a fish Tsukiji no Uogashi-yaro http://www.uogashi.co.jp vendor named Jirokichi rushing to the bridge with his empty 5 Wholesalers handed fish over to brokers without fixed prices. The two men bowing are brokers. The man at far left is a fish vendor. All fish vendors of the Edo period carried fish in this manner. (Property of the Wholesales Co-operative of Tokyo Fish Market) wholesale shops carried out a vigorous trade throughout the prices. The brokers only profited if they had sold their fish at Uogashi, collecting a tremendous amount of money every prices higher than those determined by the wholesalers. In morning. some cases, the brokers suffered losses, but were often able to We may overhear the following sort of exchange: negotiate discounts from the wholesalers. Therefore, being a “Hey, Jirokichi, you're getting a late start this morning. Why successful broker demanded knowledge of a wide variety of don’t you take this horse mackerel with you?” issues related to fish and fishing, as well as some ability to “Look at this beautiful nibe croaker (Nibea mitsukurii)! It’s predict trends and the decisions of wholesalers. just been caught!” Wholesalers and brokers at the Uogashi were the forerunners Jirokichi is widely known at the Uogashi. Shrugging off all of wholesalers and intermediate wholesalers at today’s Central brokers, he stops at one of his favorite shops, Wholesale Market in Tokyo. However, there are some signifi- “You have good chicken grunts (Parapristipoma trilineatum).” cant differences. At the present Wholesale Market, the first “That’s very discerning of you.” prices of fish collected by wholesalers are determined, throgh Jirokichi plans to deliver a plump in-season chicken grunt to auction, by the intermediate wholesalers. Next, the intermedi- one of his best customers. ate wholesalers set prices for their customers, primarily mass “How does 100 mon sound?” retailers such as supermarkets as well as some restaurants, “It sounds a little high to me. Make it 90 mon.” based on the prices they paid at auction. The entire pricing With no price tag or fixed price for fish, how were the prices process is transparent and based on the principles of fair deal- determined? ing. In contrast, prices at the Uogashi during the Edo period Each fish wholesaler contracted with a number of fishing vil- were determined behind closed doors by only a few of the lages, and all fish caught in these villages were sold to the market players. Though auctions were held, they were usually wholesaler. Fish were transported from these villages to the held by brokers for fish vendors and not meant to determine Uogashi every morning. The wholesaler received the fish and fair prices for fish. then handed them off to brokers under contract to the whole- Though the manner in which prices were determined at the saler. The brokers received the fish with no price tag attached. Uogashi was somewhat lacking in fairness, regulations were While some brokers were not strict because the primary function of the Uogashi was to independent and had their supply fish to the shogunate. Prices were low when supply own shops, most of them sold was high and high when supply was low. Following the laws fish from the wholesaler’s of fish supply and demand set by Nature herself, this way of shop. They sold the fish doing business continued successfully for over three hundred entrusted to them to fish ven- years with no particular problems. dors and restaurants at their own discretion. The 90 mon Town Magistrate Hands Down a Ruling to that Jirokichi wanted to pay Brokers for the chicken grunt would In order to collect the fish he wants, Jirokichi must visit sever- only be accepted if the broker al brokers. Brokers used flat boards called itabune to display considered it enough to make their fish. The dimensions of these itabune were fixed at 1.5 up for what he would have to meters long by 0.7 meters wide. Itabune were not merely Kansei era (1789―1801) wholesaler and brokers eventually pay the wholesaler boards for displaying fish, but also acted as a broker’s license. (property of the Wholesales Co-operative of Tokyo Fish Market) for the fish. Each broker paid his wholesaler or shop owner rent on the After the market closed in the afternoon, wholesalers would space he used at a specified rate per itabune. As the establish- meet to discuss fish prices. Once prices based on daily vol- ment of regulations and the system regarding itabune is rele- ume, season, climate, and other such factors had been deter- vant in the development of the market itself, let’s take a look mined, the brokers would be called in and notified of the at its beginnings. 6 As indicated in previous installments of this article, the “He is the last person I want to bump into!” Uogashi fish market began with seven fish wholesale shops Jirokichi recognizes the man coming towards him and swiftly established in Nihonbashi’s Odawara-cho by Mori slips into an alley. The stylishly dressed man with piercing Kyuzaemon, son of Magoemon, and his associates. The mar- eyes has a hook for grabbing fish sticking out of his kimono. ket expanded as these shops branched out, and as other fish He is an assistant of the shogunate’s food supply officials and merchants from Kansai opened their own wholesale shops. as dreaded as the plague in this neighborhood. As Edo grew in area, the volume of the fish trade also The primary function of the Uogashi, that of supplying fish to increased.

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