The man was handling a rice eel with a knife of an unusual shape not seen in Japan

Fishmonger holding unusual type of kitchen knife — Man cutting rice eel

Inhaling the thick, fish-scented air, I wandered beneath the timeworn arcades of Tainan’s Shuixian Palace Market. My gaze drifted to a fishmonger’s stall bordering the dim aisle, where a long, slender creature lay stretched across a massive, circular wooden chopping block. At first glance, it appeared to be a splendid eel, but more accurately, it was an Asian swamp eel—a creature known for its distinctly earthy, mud-dwelling nature. Though its name might suggest a close kinship with the eels we are familiar with, taxonomically speaking, they are entirely unrelated strangers. While rarely consumed in Japan, it is a remarkably common culinary staple here.

This ubiquitous ingredient is the absolute soul of shanyu yimian (swamp eel noodles), a dish fiercely celebrated as a cornerstone of Tainan’s regional cuisine. Far removed from the somewhat pretentious, luxury status of Japanese unagi, the swamp eel is a creature of the everyday, its unceremonious chopping a frequent roadside spectacle in the local markets. The man standing at the block before me, clad in a striped orange polo shirt, wore a strangely joyful smile as his hands deftly worked the slippery flesh. Observing his movements closely, I noticed the tool in his grip: a peculiar knife, distinct from a standard rectangular Chinese cleaver, featuring a wide blade that curved into a magnificent semicircle.

Seeing this crescent-shaped blade at work, I surmised that it must be the customary, specialized tool for dispatching swamp eels in Taiwan. Yet, as I surveyed the other fishmongers in the market, I spotted someone at a different stall preparing swamp eel with a perfectly ordinary knife. To further complicate matters, I then noticed another artisan wielding the exact same semi-circular cleaver to debone milkfish—a notoriously troublesome fish practically riddled with fine bones. Ultimately, I was left without an answer. Whether these unique blades are strictly assigned by the fishmongers to specific catches, or if it all simply boils down to the idiosyncratic preferences of the men who wield them, remained a mystery of the market.

Shuixian Temple Market on Google Map

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