By Isla Quinn
Thick walls. Black tiles. A bell that rings four times a day. Kawagoe, a city in Saitama Prefecture about 30 km from central Tokyo, is known locally as “Little Edo”, and the nickname comes from a street of merchant buildings that were made to survive flames.
What the name means
Wikipedia says the city is called Koedo, “Little Edo”, and that some streets keep the character of an Edo-period castle town. Edo is the old name for Tokyo. The castle was built in 1457, according to the same article, and in the Edo period it was the seat of the Kawagoe Domain. Goods moved from the town to Edo along the Shingashi River. Japan Guide, a long-running travel website, says Kawagoe was an important commercial town supplying resources to Edo, and that trade made many merchants wealthy enough to build both their warehouses and their shops in the kurazukuri style.
What kurazukuri means
Kura means warehouse. Japan Guide describes kurazukuri as clay-walled, warehouse-style buildings, made fireproof and secure against intruders, with thick walls built up in several layers. It adds that they were very expensive to build. Wikipedia gives the fireproofing as the reason for the technique, and says the old core was designated a Historic Preservation District in December 1999.
The fire of 1893
Wikipedia says a great fire on 13 May 1893 destroyed about one-third of old Kawagoe, and that the rebuilding used fireproof kurazukuri methods. It adds that Kurazukuri Street has many warehouses from the 18th and 19th centuries. So the two ideas sit together: some of the buildings are older than the fire, and a good many went up straight after it. Neither page says how many of each. Our reading: the street is a mixture of survivors and quick replacements.
The bell
The Toki no Kane, the Bell of Time, is the town’s landmark. Wikipedia says it was first built on the orders of Sakai Tadakatsu between 1624 and 1644, and that the present three-storey tower dates from 1894, the year after the fire. It gives the height as 16 metres. Japan Guide agrees on 1894 and says the previous structure was destroyed by the fire. Both give the bell’s hours as 6 am, 12 noon, 3 pm and 6 pm.
Candy alley
A minute’s walk from the main street, Japan Guide says, is Kashiya Yokocho, Candy Alley, a place to try traditional sweets. Wikipedia calls it a small backstreet with about a dozen shops selling old-fashioned sweets and snacks, and names two local specialities: fukashi, a wheat-bran stick coated in brown sugar, and amezaiku, sugar-candy sculpture.
The October festival
The Kawagoe Festival, according to Wikipedia, is held on the third Saturday and Sunday of October. The festival’s own English website publishes each year’s dates, so check it before you plan. Japan Guide says it started more than 360 years ago and is the festival of the nearby Hikawa Shrine, with tall, elaborately decorated floats paraded through the streets.
The festival site describes the floats, called dashi, as Edo-style: two storeys with a doll on top, built on a three- or four-wheeled base. The doll and the upper storey sit on trapdoor-style lifts, a device that originally let them retract to pass through castle gates. Teams also face each other in musical “battles” of hayashi music.
Two designations apply. Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs list shows the Kawagoe Hikawa Festival designated an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property in 2005. UNESCO inscribed it in 2016 as one of 33 festivals grouped under “Yama, Hoko, Yatai, float festivals in Japan”.
Getting there
The festival’s site gives these times: about 20 minutes from Omiya on the JR Kawagoe Line; about 30 minutes from Ikebukuro on the Tobu Tojo Line; about 50 minutes from Shinjuku on the JR Saikyo Line Express, or about 45 minutes on the Seibu Shinjuku Line Limited Express to Honkawagoe. Japan Guide says the warehouse district is a 10 to 15 minute walk from Hon-Kawagoe Station, about ten minutes more from Kawagoe Station or five more from Kawagoe-shi Station.
Dates in order
- 1457: castle built, according to Wikipedia.
- 1624 to 1644: first bell tower built, according to Wikipedia.
- 13 May 1893: the great fire, according to Wikipedia.
- 1894: present bell tower, according to Wikipedia and Japan Guide.
- December 1999: old core designated a Historic Preservation District, according to Wikipedia.
- 2005: festival designated an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property, according to the Agency for Cultural Affairs list.
- 2016: festival inscribed by UNESCO as one of 33 float festivals, according to UNESCO.
Side by side
The pages agree on the 1894 tower and the four daily chimes. They differ on the museum of kurazukuri life. Wikipedia says it is housed in a warehouse built in 1893, while Japan Guide reported it closed for renovation. Opening status changes, so check before you go.
What kind of sources these are
Wikipedia; Japan Guide, an independent travel website; the festival’s own English site, which is the organisers describing themselves; and the Agency for Cultural Affairs list and UNESCO’s entry for the designations. We read no city or prefectural tourism page.
What we left out
Opening hours, admission, prices, food and drink listings, the castle’s early battles, and the festival’s place in shrine ritual.
Quick answers
Why is Kawagoe called Little Edo?
According to Wikipedia, some of its streets preserve the character of an Edo-period castle town, and Edo was the old name for Tokyo. Japan Guide adds that merchants there supplied Edo.
When is the Kawagoe Festival?
According to Wikipedia, on the third Saturday and Sunday of October. The festival’s own English website publishes each year’s dates.
What is a kurazukuri building?
Japan Guide, a travel website, describes kurazukuri as clay-walled, warehouse-style buildings made fireproof and secure, with thick walls built up in several layers.
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Roam first. Shop later.