【Reading】うおがし

【English Name】Uogashi / Fish market

Uogashi refers to a market that wholesales fish and shellfish. "Kashi" originally meant a riverside landing place for cargo, and such places arose in various locations as trading sites for fresh fish delivered by water transport.

Particularly famous is the uogashi operated near Nihonbashi in the Edo period. Centered on a clan of fishermen who migrated to Edo from Tsukuda Village in Settsu Province, a market was built between Nihonbashi and Edobashi on the north bank of the Nihonbashi River. It prospered as a hub bearing the food distribution of growing Edo, and in the Meiji 30s (around 1897–1906) the surrounding wholesalers are said to have numbered about 500.

On the other hand, due to sanitary and traffic issues, arguments for relocation repeatedly arose, and triggered by the total destruction caused by the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, it relocated to Tsukiji. That Tsukiji Market in turn moved to Toyosu in 2018, and the current Toyosu Market handles about 660,000 tons of seafood annually.

In the sushi industry, the market that is the supply source is often referred to in abbreviated form as "kashi," and "going to the kashi" means early-morning market procurement. A monument indicating the "birthplace of the fish market" still exists at Nihonbashi.