Kawagoe - Little Edo

Yesterday, we headed north about an hour to a small town, Kawagoe, nicknamed Little Edo, for its reminiscence of old Tokyo (Edo).

Actually, the town centre itself is the usual pedestrianised shopping area but a short walk out takes you to the historical site.

We first went to Kitain Temple, built in 830, the regional head temple of the Buddhist Tendai sect. As with all buildings in Japan, it was destroyed by fire and rebuilt in the 17th Century.



On the site is Toshogu Shrine, the main tourist attraction. Spread out in rows are 540 Rakan statues, stone statues of the disciples of Buddha.




Each has its own facial expression, and most have funny faces, used to cheer the visitors in the olden days during times of distress. Some of them have some really great emotions and they’re very different from the usual statues in temples; like the Buddhists decided to have a laugh.




There is a very nice legend in which you have to visit the statues in the dark of the night and feel each. Only one will be warm and, in the morning on your return, the warm statue will be the one that resembles you. I hope this isn’t mine:

The next stop was to Kurazaukuri Street – a road full of warehouse style houses. In the past, wooden structures were vulnerable to fire so ‘kura’ warehouses were built with fireproof walls to protect goods like rice. These were expensive so only a few were constructed, and now only a few remain. Inside are souvenir shops, most selling sweet potato flavoured products, which the area is famous for. The bell-tower also stands on a nearby road. Sadly, the road is open for cars, so it’s not as nice to walk down as it could’ve been.




A few streets away is Candy Alley – Kashiya Yokocho – where Keiko got quite excited by all the old sweets she used to eat as a child. We tried quite a few things including these brown sugar-coated wheat sticks and sweet-potato (purple) Mr Whippy. Yummy!

We also had a slightly-salted cucumber on a stick. Rather bizarre, but great for ulcers.


The last stop was to Kawagoe Castle, not so impressive, but it had a photo display of the other castles in Japan. Only Honmary Goten, the Castle’s innermost palace, is still standing, so the area wasn’t so Castle-like. However, Wikipedia claims that

[its] spacious tatami rooms, pretty gardens
and toilets are open to the public for viewing.

The toilets?! I didn’t see the toilets. Now I want to.

I’ll have to go back.