Kappabashi Tool Town, Where You Can Find Everything from Household to Professional Kitchenware

What is Kappabashi Tool Town like?

Hello, this is the staff of The Gate Hotel Kaminarimon.

For this blog, I would like to introduce Kappabashi Dogugugai, located about a 10-minute walk from The Gate Hotel Kaminarimon. Kappabashi Dogugai is a shopping street with about 160 specialty stores along an approximately 800-meter north-south street from the Kikuya-bashi intersection on Asakusa-dori to the Kinryu Elementary School intersection on Kototoi-dori.

Professional cooking utensils and kitchen equipment, store furniture, signboards, food samples, uniforms, tableware, and cooking utensils for home use…anything related to food is available here. You are sure to find what you are looking for if you go looking for kitchen utensils and stylish tableware. Plus, it is also a fun area to stroll around and look at the many professional utensils.

Origin of the name Kappabashi

There are two theories about the origin of the name Kappabashi.

One theory is that the bridge was named after the raincoats made by samurai and foot soldiers at the castle lord’s residence in Iyo Shintani during the Edo period (1603-1868), which was located around the current site of Kinryu Elementary School.

Another theory is that the name Kappa comes from the word kappa, which means water buffalo. During the Bunka era (1804-1817), Kappa Kawataro (real name: Kihachi Kappaya) saw that the area had poor drainage and would easily flood, so he invested his own money to begin the construction of a ditch. The kappa of the Sumida River, who saw the slow progress of the construction, was moved by Kawataro’s good deed and helped him with the work. It is said that people who saw the kappa were blessed with good fortune and businesses prospered.

Kappabashi Tool Festival

The Kappabashi Tool Festival is usually held on or around October 9, Tool Day, with fun events and special sales at each store.

(Unfortunately, the festival was canceled in 2021.)

Of course, the area is fun to visit on a regular basis, so why not go for a stroll? Currently, a statue of Kappa Kawataro has been erected in the middle of Kappabashi Tool Street, near Kiyomizu-dera Temple (Kiyomizu-dera).

kappa taro statue
Whoever sees this golden statue may be in for a stroke of luck!

Five restaurants recommended by The Gate Hotel Kaminarimon staff

There are currently about 160 stores on the Kappabashi Tool Street. Here are some of the stores recommended by our hotel staff that offer products for daily use.

Takahashi Sohonten Pottery Department

https://www.takaso.jp/984-2/

takahashi-so-honten

Takahashi Sohonten has four specialty stores in Kappabashi Dogugai. The Pottery Department offers a wide variety of products, mainly Japanese tableware, such as plates, bowls, teacups, teacups, earthenware pots, etc., in a variety of genres and sizes. You are sure to find a bargain here!

Honma Shoten

http://www.honma-store.jp/

takahashi-so-honnten

Here there are two specialty stores located next to each other: an ingredient store that handles confectionery ingredients and seasonings for both commercial and home use, and a packaging store that handles packaging supplies. When you want to make delicious confections at home you can find all the ingredients you need, as well as boxes and bags for packaging here. You can also find paper plates, paper cups, and chopsticks for parties.

Kamasa Shoten

https://www.kama-asa.co.jp/en/

kamaasa

Kamasa Shoten, with its chic black curtain, has two stores, one for cooking tools and the other for kitchen knives. The store offers a wide selection of cooking tools that have been loved by professional chefs for many years, such as iron frying pans, hand-hammered gyohira pots, and knives carefully crafted one by one by artisans.

IIDA-YA

https://kappa-iida.com/

iida-ya

A specialty store where you can find all kinds of useful cooking tools for home use as well as for professional chefs. They have a large selection of kitchen utensils for everyday use such as graters, peelers, frying pans, tongs… You are sure to find the perfect tool for you at this store.

Tsubaya

https://tsubaya.co.jp/

tsuba-ya

Tsubaya is a specialty store of kitchen knives where professional chefs from all over the world visit for their kitchen knives. There are more than 1,000 kitchen knives in the store such as Japanese kitchen knives, Western kitchen knives, household knives, professional knives, buckwheat knives, and so on. You can enjoy just looking at various shapes of knives.

In addition to the above list, there are many other interesting stores. If there is a product or a store you are looking for, it might be a good idea to search for it in advance on the official website of Kappabashi Dogukai or look through the map Kappabashi Convenience Map before you visit.

SHOP DATA

  • Name: Kappabashi Tool Street (Tokyo Kappabashi Shopping Arcade Promotion Association)
  • Address: 3-18-2 Matsugaya, Taito-ku, Tokyo 111-0036
  • TEL 03-3844-1225
  • URL https://www.kappabashi.or.jp/
  • Business hours: Varies depending on the store
  • Closed: Varies depending on the store

*For the latest information on business hours, holidays, etc., please contact the store directly.

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