Three men just cut a big block of tune together

I arrived at the Tsukiji inner market, the very heart of Tokyo, long after the morning’s frantic energy had ebbed. Most of the wholesale stalls had already shuttered, leaving behind nothing but the dull, wet glint of hosed-down concrete floors. The market operates on a schedule that borders on the absurd; a mere shift in the clock, and the vitality vanishes. To an outsider who miscalculates the time, it is a cold, indifferent place. Yet, unable to quell my curiosity, I wandered the dim corridors until I stumbled upon a few solitary souls still laboring with quiet diligence.

At one such stall, three men in matching pale-green polo shirts stood assembled. Before them, sprawled across a massive cutting board, lay a hunk of tuna so immense that the word "fillet" seemed a comical understatement. It was a primal, deep-red monolith of flesh.

A Note on History: Tuna’s value has shifted with the tides of time. In the Edo period, the fatty toro was considered "low-class" and often discarded. Looking at this colossal specimen, I—a mere amateur—could not tell if I was witnessing the dismantling of once-scorned fat or long-treasured lean meat. What was undeniable, however, was that this was a beast that required three grown men to conquer.

Facing this giant, the men spoke not a single word. There was no need for chatter. The man in the center threw the full weight of his torso onto the fish, pinning it to the wood with absolute resolve. To his right, another gripped a long, slender blade, pouring every ounce of his strength into a heavy, deliberate cut. A third man hovered in the background, providing support at precisely the right moments with an almost eerie synchronization.

I had always harbored the naive assumption that slicing fish was as effortless as drawing a knife through silken tofu. I was wrong. The flesh of a giant tuna is surprisingly resilient, even hard. This was not mere "slicing." This was heavy labor—a rhythmic, taxing extraction akin to hewing timber from an ancient forest.