Kappabashi-dori

Kappabashi district in Tokyo is the food professionals’ turf, and as such is an interesting place for every amateurs of Japanese cuisine. Kappabashi-dori’s shops specialize in kitchen utensils and furniture wholesale, but they also sell to individuals, tourists and locals, who can make great finds in this unique gathering of shops in Japan.

A variety of kitchen utensils shops

About 170 shops are currently dispatched on 2 perpendicular streets:

• On the main avenue’s ~650 meters length, called Kappabashi-dogugai; and,
• On the ~250 meters long street called Kappabashi-hondori.

The intersection of the 2 streets opens on a beautiful view on the Tokyo SkyTree. Kappabashi is indeed located between to important touristic areas of the capital: the Senso-ji temple and Ueno Park. It is located about a 15 minutes’ walk from Asakusa, and served by Tawaramachi Station on the Ginza subway 🚇 Line.

As for shopping, the place has everything for the kitchen, from the tiniest items like chopsticks rests, to neon signs to place at the front window of a restaurant. Most common items include:

• Japanese tableware: bowls, small plates, glasses, cast-iron or ceramic teapots;
• Knives (santoku, gyuto, etc.), chopsticks, spoons and ladles;
• Cooking appliances: takoyaki plates, rectangular pans for omelets; colanders for draining soba and udon noodles; various types of cookie-cutters;
• Restaurant decorations: maneki-neko statues, lanterns, noren curtains;
• Realistic wax food displayed to illustrate a menu and stimulate appetite. As these food replicas can be quite expensive, one may try to buy smaller items like food-shaped key-holders that are more affordable and can make for original souvenirs;
• Food wrapping, Japan being known for its use of several layers of wrappings to preserve the products’ freshness; and,
• Traditional restaurants’ typical work clothing, especially kimonos for waitresses.

A district build on a former marshland

The area developed and specialized in kitchen ware during the post-war reconstruction period, from the late 1940s. Its large concrete avenues lined with buildings were initially wet lands frequently flooded on rainy ☔️ days. It was thus named "Kappabashi" as a reference to its marshland past and to 2 legendary figures who supposedly made its landscape:

• Kihachi Kappaya (nicknamed Kappa Kawataro), a merchant who is said to have been largely funding the works to drain and sanitize the area during the Bunka era (1804 -1818), especially the landscaping works on the Shinhori-kawa river, crossed by bridges, and now an underground river running in a culvert. A golden statue of him is standing in the area since 2003.
• Kappa, mythological creatures that live in swamps and look like turtles with a duckbill in stead of a mouth. While they could be mischievous to Humans, the kappa of the neighboring Sumida river, according to the local legend, empathized with Kihachi Kappaya and helped him make the land suitable for living. Kappa are well-respected as they are associated with the wealth of the district’s merchants.

Other theories about the origins of the district exist, especially one about foot soldiers (ashigaru) who lived on the banks of the former river and used to spread their raincoats (also called kappa) to let them dry.

The yearly Kappabashi Dogu Matsuri festival

Kappabashi-dori’s shop owners are members of an association that have been organizing the district’s yearly festival, the Kappabashi Dogu Matsuri (かっぱ橋道具まつり) since 1985. It is held each year during a week around October 9, a date designated at the utensils' day in Japan (道具の日 Dogu no Hi).

On this occasion, professionals and amateurs display their products on the sidewalk in front of the stores and the 2 main streets become pedestrian on the weekends and holidays. Food stalls, a parade and a stamp-rally provide animation to the festival.
Kappabashi area is the ideal place to shop "made in Japan" souvenirs or items for the kitchen, and requires enough time for shopping around its many vendors.