Ever since coming to Japan, I've had a great interest in handicraft and flea markets because of the wide range of things that you can see and buy. Kyoto is known for its many markets and the Toji Flea Market, or Kobo-san, is a famous and popular one with locals and tourists alike. Held on the 21st of every month, this flea market transforms the spacious and quiet temple grounds at Toji Temple into a lively and bustling area. Hundreds of vendors pitch up their tents or lay out their tarps along with their goods and merchandise. You can find a huge variety at this market: antiques, pottery, food, old and new clothing, kimono, sculptures, plants, shoes, even old currency and stamps! Because this flea market in December was the last one for the year, even more vendors and people came! I got there before 8:00 in the morning and people were already leaving with their purchases! The easiest way to get there is to catch the Kintetsu Line to Toji station and then walk about five minutes to the temple :) (or you can follow the crowds as well!). I stayed there for about five hours and even after that, I still hadn't seen everything!
Some vendors laid out their merchandise on tarps and it was amazing to see what they sold
Others sold most of their things from their trucks. So many beautiful fabric patterns!
This vendor had quite a variety of tsuba, or sword guards and I immediately walked over to see because my dad was interested in acquiring another one :)
They were a bit too pricey though....
If you can't afford to buy traditional Japanese osechi for New Years (and they are quite expensive!), you can buy one of these miniature sized ones for only 800 yen (and they won't ever go bad ^^). The ones at Daimaru and Sogo were about 80,000 yen ($800) for the real thing...
Numerous stalls with wooden goods and I got to chat with the owner at one of them ^^ This vendor handmade every single one of his products!
Not only goods, but food as well!
Bought this as my very late breakfast/early lunch for 600 yen. It can probably feed two people so it's a must :)
And this yummy snack while walking around
Gorgeous hair pieces...
And records!!! So many~ and I had to take a picture of these Christmas classics!
These reminded me of my grandpa because he used to smoke his pipe in his study while reading a good book :)
Thank you so much for reading and I hope you all have a wonderful week!
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