前夜、痛飲したにもかかわらず悲しきかな時差ボケいまだ改善せず朝4時に覚醒。
築地へ。
英語サイト（最下段に添付）から拾い読むと江戸時代、徳川幕府の誕生とともに佃島から新規移動、政府（幕府）から江戸城への販売独占権が与えられ発達してきたようです。
現在では1日の取引高28億円！？とか。すごい金額。Speculationがほとんどの金融取引などとは異なり実需ですから・・・。
現在では1日の取引高28億円！？とか。すごい金額。Speculationがほとんどの金融取引などとは異なり実需ですから・・・。
これはフグですかね？
さていよいよお目当てのマグロのセリ会場へ。
到着して判明したんですがセリは毎朝6時から開始されるようです。
観光客用の見学エリアが設定されていて欧米からの観光客でごったかえし皆さん熱心に写真を撮っています。
観光客用の見学エリアが設定されていて欧米からの観光客でごったかえし皆さん熱心に写真を撮っています。
セリにかけられるマグロ達。（冷凍ものと活魚にセリは分かれています）
尻尾の断面を見るとその「デキ」が判るんでしょうか。
セリに参加する仲買人はセリの前にじっくり検分です。
セリに参加する仲買人はセリの前にじっくり検分です。
そして鐘を鳴らしてセリが始まりました。
意外と声は小さい。静かです。もっと怒声が飛び交うのかと思ってました。
意外と声は小さい。静かです。もっと怒声が飛び交うのかと思ってました。
セリ落とされたマグロ達は次々と買主の下へ運ばれて行きました。
この築地魚市場ｎ見学を終えた息子の感想は一言。
It's so SKINKY! （臭い！）
社会見学させてやろうという親の目論見はどうやらはずれたようです。（爆！）
Origin
It is said that "Uogashi" or a riverside fish market dates back to the 16th century, the beginning of the Edo period. Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first Tokugawa shogun and builder of Edo as is now Tokyo, invited fishermen from Tsukudajima, Osaka and gave them a privilege for fishing in order to let them supply seafood to Edo Castle. The fishermen purveyed fish to the Castle and sold the remains near the Nihonbashi bridge. It was the origin of Uogashi. Then, to meet the growing demand for fish with the increase in population, Nihonbashi Uogashi was reformed and developed into a market. The market was lead by wholesale merchants licensed by the Shogunate who bought fish from local ports, sold them to jobbers in the market and thus built up a large fortune, forming their own distributing network. Vegetables markets handling vegetables gathered in the suburbs of Edo were established in Kanda, Senju and Komagome: the Edo's three big vegetable markets. The markets attained prosperity led by wholesalers and jobbers like fish markets. During the Edo period the market price was determined chiefly by negotiated transactions between sellers and buyers. Public auction was hardly taken place except in vegetable markets. In the Meiji and Taisho eras, the privilege of wholesale merchants were abolished. In 1923 some 20 private markets in Tokyo were destroyed almost completely by the Great Kanto Earthquake. After the earthquake, Tokyo City as it then was undertook to construct a central wholesale market on the bases of the Central Wholesale Market Law which had been promulgated in the same year. As a result, the three markets of Tsukiji, Kanda and Koto were founded and the growing population then led to a succession of new markets.
Above: Boats of fish dealers near Nihonbashi bridge in the beginning of the Edo period
Top right: Fishing boats poured in from various parts of Japan and a sort of fish market was formed. (Migonbashi bridge in the mid Edo period)
Right: Price fixing by wholesalers and jobbers. in the late Edo period
Source text: "Nihonbashi-Uogashi" published bye the Wholesalers Co-operative of Tokyo Fish Market.