The Sunday Market

Kochi’s famous Sunday Market began over three hundred years ago in the Edo Period, when the fourth lord of Tosa, Toyomasa Yamauchi, established the market in law.

 

Today, this open-air market runs east for one kilometer starting at the Otemon Gate of Kochi Castle and boasts around 300 vendors. More than 10,000 customers visit the market each Sunday, and the market’s scale and history are unrivaled in Japan.

 

Hundreds of special stores jockey for space, stocking fresh produce and seafood taken from the mountains, sea, and fields of Kochi. The air rings with the sounds of the thick Tosa dialect, making this market one of the most “Kochi-like” places around. Other markets operate around the city on other days, with tourists and locals alike flocking to there friendly, authentic open-air markets.

 

Street-markets and unmanned farm stands operate outside of Kochi City. These markets sell the unique produce of Kochi, some of which you may not be able to sample anywhere else in the country.