In the fish market at Nihonbashi (present Chuo Ward, Tokyo) in the Edo period, the following was said, showing that whale meat was available widely in the areas around the Edo castle: "If you want big fishes, there are whales, if you want small fishes, there are sardines, if you want precious fishes, there are sea breams and flounders, but skipjack tunas are excellent inshore fishes, and people always eat skipjack tunas as a traditional custom at the first fair of selling them on April 8, even if they have to pawn their clothes or to sell their collars."
江戸時代には、江戸の日本橋(東京都中央区)の魚市では「大には鯨、小には鰯、貴品には鯛、鰈等があるなかにも堅魚は近海の名産にして、四月八日の初市には、衣を典し衿を売るも必ずこれを食ふの旧習民間に行はる」という言葉が残されており、江戸城下で鯨肉が広く一般に流通していたことがうかがえる。