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Sanriku Fukkō NP, Miyagi
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Kesennuma’s 28-year run atop Japan’s fresh-bonito landings ended in 2025. On June 26, 2026, one morning’s catch topped 600 tonnes and returned the market to the national lead; by October, its bonito sales had broken the previous annual record.
Sharks are a major catch at this market, and the salmon shark’s heart is eaten raw in Kesennuma as mōka no hoshi, usually dipped in vinegared miso—a surprising local sashimi specialty.
Among the swordfish landed here, a prized local cut is called harmonica: meat at the dorsal-fin base, where bony ridges resemble harmonica reeds. Each fish yields only a little, and cooks simmer it as a rich dish.
The 2011 tsunami flooded the market’s upper work areas. After restoring the wharf and essential supply links, Kesennuma reopened the market on June 23; the first post-disaster bonito landed on June 28.
Bonito at this market has two seasons and two flavors: early northbound fish are lean and bright, while those returning south in autumn have fed in waters off Sanriku and Hokkaido, building richer, fattier flesh.
Many boats landing here are based outside Miyagi. Local wholesalers have long supplied visiting crews and looked after their needs; those ties run so deep that some fishermen call Kesennuma their “second hometown.”
Kesennuma’s shark trade began with fish cakes: 19th-century makers turned spiny dogfish into chikuwa, then shifted to blue shark when supplies ran short. A 1920 cold store made year-round chikuwa shipments possible.
The market’s exhibit has a 4-by-8-metre floor map tracking Kesennuma boats around the globe. It even shows the flight route from Japan to Las Palmas, Spain, where crews join deep-sea tuna vessels.
Kesennuma’s bonito story reaches back to 1675, when fishers from Kishu, now Wakayama, taught locals a live-bait pole-and-line method. Local records and a Tohoku University scholar trace the regional fishery to that exchange.
Before the market moved to today’s waterfront in 1956, Kesennuma’s first public fish market opened at Minamimachi in 1935. It took years of debate because a regulated, sanitary market would replace long-standing beachside fish sales.
Inside the market, a visitor exhibit recreates a deep-sea tuna boat’s wheelhouse at full scale, with equipment that actually went to sea. Another station lets visitors pretend to drive a real electric forklift used at the market.
