Follow fish from a boat to the shops of Edo.

The idea

The Nihonbashi fish market handled fish arriving by water. 問屋 bought goods from suppliers; intermediaries and 小売 shops helped bring them to customers. The examples use modern polite Japanese rather than historical speech.

Patterns to compare
JapaneseMeaning
魚市場うおいちばfish market
問屋とんやwholesaler
小売こうりretail
船ふねboat

Examples

  • 江戸えどの日本橋にほんばしには、魚市場うおいちばがありました。There was a fish market at Nihonbashi in Edo.
  • 魚さかなは船ふねで市場いちばに運はこばれました。Fish was carried to the market by boat.
  • 問屋とんやは魚さかなを買かいました。The wholesaler bought fish.
  • 小売こうりの店みせで魚さかなを買かいました。I bought fish at a retail shop.
  • 買かい物ものに町まちへ行いきました。I went into town to shop.
  • 店みせの人ひとに値段ねだんを聞ききました。I asked the shopkeeper the price.

Read-aloud uses a synthetic Japanese voice available on your device. Voice quality and availability vary; it does not assess your pronunciation.

Watch out

This describes one market and a distribution route, not every transaction in every Edo-period town.

Try it yourself

  1. Choose the Japanese term for “fish market”: （魚市場うおいちば／問屋とんや）

    Show answer or example answer

    魚市場

    魚市場 means “fish market”; 問屋 means “wholesaler”.

  2. Choose the Japanese term for “wholesaler”: （問屋とんや／小売こうり）

    Show answer or example answer

    問屋

    問屋 means “wholesaler”; 小売 means “retail”.

  3. Choose the Japanese term for “retail”: （小売こうり／魚市場うおいちば）

    Show answer or example answer

    小売

    小売 means “retail”; 魚市場 means “fish market”.

Use it today

Describe a purchase and identify who sells to the customer in two Japanese sentences.