Kawagoe

Kawagoe is a small city a short distance north of Tokyo, but far enough away to feel a little bit in the country; you even pass some rice fields on the way. I visited here recently in an afternoon, having not heard of it previously. [The most common day trips out of Tokyo are to Nikko, Kamikura and Hakone, but it seems that this is the fourth in that group, according to Tourist Information I saw.]

So many prayer boards!

Girls day out

Kawagoe festival

Writing wishes on paper

Main street

The main attraction of Kawagoe is that there is a street and some surrounding area that is locked in a time warp, and apparently resembles Tokyo around 100 years ago. (Sometimes called Ko-Edo … literally ‘little Tokyo’). So it’s a popular spot for Japanese folks to escape the city, remembering the days of old, browsing small shops and eating traditional delicacies of various kinds. Most of the visitors appeared to be Japanese, rather than foreign tourists, perhaps because Kawagoe hasn’t yet become prominent in guide books?

Many young women enjoy hiring traditional Japanese clothing such as yukata (or even the more lavish and expensive kimono), so there were lots of them wandering around when I visited, so that a generally pleasant atmosphere prevailed.

I also visited a large Shinto shrine – which was very popular – in which many young women (especially) were apparently making wishes for a successful marriage, by writing their wishes on small wooden boards (called Ema) or on small paper messages and hanging them on display. (There were also men doing such things, dressed in traditional costume, but many fewer.) There were several other shrines in the city, but time allowed me to sample only one.

Kawagoe is especially famous for an annual festival that is held on a weekend in October, these days attended by around a million people. It’s been going some 400 years now. I was disappointed that my schedule didn’t permit seeing this, but I did go to an interesting museum dedicated to the festival, showing pictures of some of the extraordinary three-tired floats, as well as some actual examples. The photo shows a couple of these turning corners – tricky as they don’t have steering wheels, and so need to be levered around gradually!

Certainly worth the 45-minute trip out of the metropolis!

Author: barrykissane

I am a (mostly) retired Australian mathematics teacher, father, traveller. View all posts by barrykissane