Nishiki Market Kyoto: Hours, Food & Pokemon Center Route

In Kyoto's Shijo area, I looked around the Pokemon Center and Daimaru Kyoto, then walked through Nishiki Market to Nishiki Tenmangu. This post covers Nishiki Market's hours and food, the Pokemon Center's cards and tax-free rules, and Daimaru's 5% guest card discount and tax-free shopping, in the order I actually walked.

How to Get to Shijo in Kyoto

The Pokemon Center Kyoto and Daimaru Kyoto are both on Shijo-dori. Nishiki Market is one block north of Daimaru Kyoto.

Shijo-dori (四条通) is a main street that runs east to west through central Kyoto. Between Karasuma and Kawaramachi it is lined with department stores, shopping malls and restaurants.

After the Pokemon Center and Daimaru Kyoto, head north from Daimaru and you reach the western end of Nishiki Market. Walk the market eastward and it takes you all the way to Nishiki Tenmangu.

From Kyoto Station to Shijo

From Kyoto Station, the Karasuma subway line is the simplest option. Take a train bound for Kokusaikaikan and you reach Shijo Station in about 4 minutes, for 220 yen.

By bus, you can get off at several stops along Shijo-dori, such as Shijo Omiya, Shijo Karasuma and Shijo Kawaramachi. If you are doing the Pokemon Center and Daimaru first, as on this route, start at Shijo Karasuma.

From Tenryu-ji to Shijo

If you are coming to Shijo from Arashiyama, where Tenryu-ji is, you can take the Randen or a city bus.

1) On the Randen, you can get from Shijo Omiya Station to Shijo Karasuma by walking along Shijo-dori, or by riding one stop on the Hankyu line from Omiya Station to Karasuma Station.
2) On weekends and holidays, City Bus 11 does not stop at Arashiyama Tenryuji-mae because of traffic restrictions. Use the Kadokuracho stop instead.

👉 Tenryu-ji Admission, Hours & Access: Arashiyama, Kyoto

Pokemon Center Kyoto

The Pokemon Center Kyoto is on the 2nd floor of SUINA Muromachi in the Kyoto Economic Center, at Shijo Karasuma.

It moved here from Kyoto Takashimaya in 2019. It is an official Pokemon Center selling Pokemon plush toys, stationery, household goods, Pokemon cards and more.

At the store entrance there is a Pikachu in a kimono, fitting for the Kyoto store.

When I visited on a weekday afternoon, I could walk straight in without waiting.

On new release days or busy days, though, entry tickets may be handed out. If you are going on a weekend or holiday, check the Pokemon Center Kyoto notices once before you set out.

➡️ Check the Pokemon Center Kyoto entry ticket notices

Pokemon card purchase limits and tax-free

I bought Pokemon cards at the Pokemon Center Kyoto that had been sold out in Osaka.

When I visited, Pokemon card booster packs could be bought at the register up to 2 packs per person per day, at 200 yen a pack (tax included). There were no boxes for sale, and after buying the maximum you couldn't line up again the same day to buy more.

The Pokemon Center Kyoto doesn't offer tax-free shopping.

Daimaru Kyoto Department Store

From the Pokemon Center Kyoto, I walked along Shijo-dori to Daimaru Kyoto.

Daimaru was founded in Fushimi, Kyoto in 1717 and opened at its current location in 1912.

Daimaru Kyoto guest card 5% discount

The 5% discount coupon, widely known as the Daimaru Kyoto guest card, is given out when you show your passport.

• Eligible: overseas customers within 6 months of entering Japan
• How: show your passport at the 8F tax-free counter, the 1F service counter, or the register on any floor
• Payment: works with credit card payments as well as cash
• Exclusions: food, sale items and some brands are not eligible for the 5% discount

Daimaru Kyoto tax-free

Daimaru Kyoto's tax-free counter is on the 8th floor.

• Eligible: short-term travelers who are non-residents within 6 months of entering Japan and have spent 5,000 yen or more before tax
• What to bring: same-day receipts, your original passport, the items you bought, and the payment card in your own name if you paid by card
• Actual refund rate: Daimaru Kyoto takes a 1.55% fee on the tax-free amount. So the actual refund rate is 8.45% on items taxed at 10%, and 6.45% on items taxed at 8%. Restaurant charges and delivery fees are not eligible for tax-free shopping.

👉 Japan Tax-Free Change Nov 2026: How the New Refund Works

Daimaru Kyoto luggage storage

If you have bags, you can leave them for a while at the 1F service counter. It is normally paid, but it's free if you show a same-day Daimaru Kyoto receipt when you collect them.

There are also paid coin lockers on the 8th floor, and next to the basement food service counter there are cold lockers where you can keep chilled food bought at Daimaru for the day.

Kyoto Nishiki Market: Food and Hours

After Daimaru Kyoto, I went one block north and into Nishiki Market.

Nishiki Market is a covered market that runs about 390m from Takakura-dori to Teramachi-dori. The official website lists more than 130 shops, selling everything from fish, Kyoto vegetables, yuba, namafu and pickles to food you can eat on the spot.

In 1615 it became one of the fish wholesale markets licensed by the Edo shogunate. The cold groundwater in this area was used to keep fish and other ingredients fresh.

Nishiki Market food

Many of the long-running shops here sell the basics of cooking: fresh seafood and dashimaki tamago (rolled omelet), plus Kyoto's many kinds of tsukemono (pickled vegetables) and top-grade kombu.

You shouldn't eat while walking around Nishiki Market. The official guidance is to eat what you buy in front of the shop or inside it.

① Nishiki Daiyasu: raw oysters

A raw oyster specialist that opened in 1921. It sells oysters from producing areas all over Japan, and depending on the season you can pick raw oysters from several areas and compare them.

Besides raw oysters it sells sashimi, obanzai and fried dishes, and there is space at the back of the shop to eat.

② Konnamonja: soy milk donuts

Konnamonja is run by the Kyoto tofu shop Kyo Tofu Fujino (京とうふ藤野). It opened in Nishiki Market about 30 years ago and sells soy products such as tofu and yuba, plus desserts made with soy milk.

The easiest things to grab on a trip are the soy milk donuts and the soy milk soft serve.

③ Fuka: namafu and fu-manju

Fuka is a namafu specialist with records of supplying the Kyoto Imperial Palace at the end of the Edo period. It sells chewy namafu made from wheat gluten, fu-manju filled with red bean paste, and sea-bream-shaped taiyaki fu-manju.

④ Miki Keiran: dashimaki tamago

Miki Keiran is a dashimaki tamago specialist that opened in 1928.

It makes its dashimaki the Kyoto "kyomaki (京巻き)" way: egg and stock are poured into a copper pan and rolled quickly over high heat. The stock uses Nishiki Market's groundwater, Rishiri kombu and katsuobushi.

Besides the plain dashimaki, there is umaki with eel and anagomaki with conger eel simmered in-house. As you'd expect from an egg shop, it also sells snacks such as egg-yolk bean paste buns and custard cream buns.

⑤ Aritsugu: knives and cookware

Aritsugu is a knife and cookware specialist that began in 1560 with the swordsmith Fujiwara Aritsugu.

It sells kitchen knives, pots and a wide range of cookware made by craftsmen. It also looks after them after purchase, with knife sharpening and repairs.

Nishiki Tenmangu

Nishiki Tenmangu is a shrine to Sugawara no Michizane, known as the god of learning. Walk Nishiki Market from west to east all the way to the end and you'll find Nishiki Tenmangu on Shinkyogoku-dori.

Nishiki Tenmangu omamori and charms

At Nishiki Tenmangu you can get many kinds of omamori (Japanese shrine charms): for study and passing exams, and also for business, warding off bad luck, health and relationships.

The Nishiki omamori in particular, black with a gold "錦", is a charm for wisdom, study, business, good fortune and warding off bad luck. It costs 500 yen.

Karakuri omikuji delivered by a lion

Omikuji are fortunes drawn at Japanese shrines.

When someone comes close, music plays and a lion dance puppet starts moving; put in a coin and the lion brings you an omikuji. There are also omikuji for foreign visitors, written in both Japanese and English.

Nishiki water

In the shrine grounds is "Nishiki no Mizu (錦の水)", water that wells up from about 30m underground. The groundwater here also played an important part in this area becoming a food market.

The water is tested regularly, but since it is natural water its quality can change, so the shrine asks you to boil it if you drink it.

Hours and closing days differ by shop in Nishiki Market, so if there's a shop you want to visit, check that it's open on the day.

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