In 1607, the lord of the Obama domain Kyogoku Takatsugu (1560–1609) established a market on reclaimed marshland near the harbor of Obama. A merchant town developed around the market area, where buyers, sellers, shipping agents, and others related to commerce built their houses.
A dock for cargo vessels and fishing boats was built behind the market, at the mouth of the Minami River, where goods and marine products were unloaded to be carried over land to Kyoto. It came to be regarded as the starting point of the Saba Kaido (“the Mackerel Road”), a historical network of trade routes between Obama and Kyoto that had been facilitating the flow of goods, people, and culture for centuries. Many preserved documents related to the Obama Market contain records of mackerel shipments sent to Kyoto. At present, the largest seafood market in Obama is the Wakasa Obama Fish Center, but wholesale stores and merchant houses, as well as place names like “upper market” and “lower market,” can still be found in the former Obama Market area.
