Oct 9, 2013 - 1 min read

Tsukiji Fish Market Tuna Wholesalers

Keeping the tradition alive

By Senén Germade

Community writer

Trader cutting the tuna meat into small pieces

Once the tuna is ready it needs to be wrapped in papers to keep it fresh

A few chunks of cut tuna. Traders use to cut it off to show the different qualities to its customers

A couple of traders checking the quality of the tuna chunks

Here are some already cut pieces of tuna

One of hundreds fish stalls at Tsukiji wholesalers area

More fish stalls. More traders. More customers. That's the real atmosphere at Tsukiji

Traders deciding carefully at what angle to cut the tuna, before they made their first move with the maguro bocho

All traders take their job very seriously and administered a lot of care

Customer and trader trying to find a good price for a high quality piece of tuna

Once again wrapping the tuna in paper to keep it fresh

After a hard day of work, it's time to relax!

Japan has a rich cultural heritage with many ancient arts and traditions. It has the art of comic storytelling, martial arts or the kimono. Japan also has a long history of painting, woodcutting, carving, pottery and other visual arts like calligraphy. We cannot forget its cuisine, music and literature… The traditional Japan is everywhere. You can see it. You can feel it. This is exactly what happens when you see those men cutting fresh tuna at Tsukiji fish market with Japanese swords. Actually they are not swords. They are tools. They are called Maguro bocho (“tuna knife”) or Maguro kiri bocho (“tuna cutter”). The maguro bocho is an extremely long, highly specialized knife with a blade length of 40 cm (16 inches) to 150 cm (60 inches) in addition to a long handle. It can filet a tuna in a single cut, although usually two people are needed to handle the knife and the tuna. The flexible blade is curved to the shape of the spine to minimize the amount of meat remaining on the tuna carcass.