It has long been called Kyoto's kitchen. Nishiki Market runs about three hundred and ninety meters under its arcade, lined with some hundred and thirty shops. Pickles, tofu, yuba, conger eel, rolled omelette, wheat gluten, almost everything Kyoto cooking requires can be found here. The market is four centuries old; it began as a fish market, said to have thrived because abundant groundwater kept the catch fresh. Today it draws many visitors, and the calls of street-food vendors ring out. But mornings are still quiet, when chefs come to shop as they always have. An old shopkeeper trades words with a customer: this is in season now; that one, wait a little longer. They sell not only goods but the turning of the seasons. Ask the price before you buy; that, too, is part of the market's etiquette.