Nishiki Market — the locally inevitable nickname is Kyō no daidokoro, "the kitchen of Kyoto" — runs for about four hundred metres east-west between Teramachi and Takakura, one block north of Shijō and one block south of the Oike subway line. The arcade is narrow, fluorescent-lit, and densely packed with around 130 stalls and small shops, most of them specialists — pickle makers, knife smiths, tofu artisans, fu (wheat gluten) merchants, dashi sellers, sweet shops, and a long-standing row of dried-fish dealers in the eastern half.
Modern Nishiki has tipped from purely local-supply to also-serving-tourists, and prices reflect that — but the quality of the specialist food is still extremely good and many of the businesses have been in the same families for centuries. The market is busiest from about ten to four and at its quietest just after opening (around nine). Sampling small, paid items as you go is welcome; eating-while-walking is not.