Kawagoe - the land of fire

Every morning in the centre of a small town known as "Little Tōkyō", when the mist simmers from the rising sun, a large bell rings. Although I was snoring at this time, the tour guide said it was 'really something'.

Kawagoe retains a lot of old Tōkyō history. When I tag this town as the land of fire, I mean nearly all of its buildings have been burnt down then rebuilt. There were even many fireproof storehouses built of which around 30 survived and still stand today in their modified original form.

The town boasts candy shops, sweet potato ice cream and even a beer branded, "Coedo" or "Ko Ēdo" meaning "Little Tōkyō" beer, which is also made from sweet potato. On October the 13th the town celebrates a "sweet potato day" festival. This "small" town of around three hundred and forty thousand people have festivals all year round. Within a short walk from Kawagoe station, the streets start their metamorphosis into a town that looks a lot like what you would see in a museum. Every year, in October, the biggest festival, appropriately named "The Kawagoe Festival" sends numerous rolling musical castles to do battle by traditional music. That’s a must “go-to” festival. Kawagoe is definitely a town that strives to keep its cultural history.

Kawagoe - The history

Not many places on this planet have a good history. Although this is one of those places, the history books and publications from the Kawagoe museums actually boast of Kawagoe's terrible and deceitful history. But this is actually common in Japan. The historians know of its bad history but they word it in such a way as not to invoke "opinion" from the public eg. "He killed his brother." changes to "His brother was slain over a falling out.". Here's a more realistic history of Kawagoe. Don't get me wrong though, it's a great place to go and yes, it does preserve a lot of history even if somewhat encrypted.

Kawagoe is in the middle of Saitama. It's surrounded by rivers so it was a great place to make a settlement. There were already people here. What happened to them? We don't know, of course. As with any peaceful settlement, power hungry and greedy warlords rise up to conquer and take control of the land. The Kawagoe clan came from Chichibu. They were "especially powerful" among the warlords.

When the Minamoto clan was Shōgun (Military ruler of Japan) one of its members, Mr. Yoritomo had his eye on Kawagoe, or more appropriately, the owner of its lands. The owner was Shigure. His daughter was married to Mr. Yoritomo's brother. So Mr. Yoritomo killed his brother, "inherited" the old Shigure's land then had the poor fellow executed. Executed very nicely, Mr. Yoritomo.

In 1457 the Shōgun was taken by the Muromachi. The Uesagi clan then told everyone that they were now the dominant power over the Kanto region. They ordered father and son, Ota and Dokan to make three castles.

It was about this time that the warlords, now known as "feudal lords" wanted to "expand their territories". This time it was Odawara Hojo vs. Uesagi. The Uesagi clan lost. Twice. Now the Hojo clan owns Kawagoe. Many people dead.

Ieyasu Tokugawa, a guy who stayed at the Ēdo castle noticed that Kawagoe was strategically in a nice place. In 1590 he put a retainer there to become lord of the land. Not surprisingly, the Tokugawa took the Shōgun title later in 1603. They craftily took all the rulership away from all of the greedy feudal lords and stationed family and close relations to rule the lands.

Matsudaira Nobutsuna, a successive Tokugawa lord greatly enhanced the town. He made transport routes, used the river for shipping, planted administrative offices about, made lots of farms and "inaugurated" the Kawagoe festival, directly copied from the Tenka Festival held in Ēdo.

About 250 years later, Matthew Perry from the U.S. navy came to end the Sakoku, (No foreign trade routes or travel into and out of Japan policy). The people of Kawagoe were sent to Shinagawa and were ordered to fight back. They lost.

Matthew Perry comes to end the "No foreigners allowed" policy. Kawagoe fights back. Perry wins.

After this Kawagoe became the local centre of trade. The town bustled with commerce and the first national bank opened called Dai Hachijugo Bank. Due to such economic activity, phones, power, electric railways and specific markets were made. Fireproof merchant houses popped up and the area flourished as a prime location for retail trade.

Kawagoe Castle

This is one of three castles made by Ota and his son Dokan Michizane. Once the Tokugawa clan conquered the Kanto region they let everyone know that Kawagoe shall now be know as Kawagoe-HAN, which meant it was now officially a prefecture. Soon after, it became a military base for shipping "goods" and "stuff" to Ēdo.

These days, to much relief, it is just a garden and a museum for the public.

Kita-In Temple

Shōgun and temples have a long history of working together to keep the masses happy.

This temple was built around 830AD by a fellow monk named Ennin. He called it Muryoju. He named it after the Amitaba Buddha which was the Buddha of eternal life. This temple was one of the three major temples, Kita (North) Naka (Middle) and Minami (South) In (Temple). Here's a short history　of Kita-In:

In 1205, it burnt down. Sonkai built it again. In 1300, Emperor Gofushimi made it the "Head" temple. In 1599, Naka-In was getting too popular so Tenkai, the top monk at Kita-In coined Kita-In as the "Main" Temple but this wasn't enough. Tenkai became buddies with the Shōgun and got help. The temple changed from being the dark and gloomy “North Temple” to become "The temple of many happiness". Great move cause now Kita-In is the best temple in the Kanto region and Naka-In became just another temple. Puny Minami-In was reduced to a graveyard!

Go Hyaku Rakan - 500 Statues

Actually there are 538 statues. They are carvings of the Buddha's students. Each and every one of them has an individual personality. There’s a rumour that if you touch each Buddha on the calm midst of night, you'll find one that is warm. Mark it and come back the next morning. Provided no one has moved your mark, the Buddha you chose will be the one that most resembles yourself. It pays not to actually try this one as the place is locked up at night and I don't think anyone would appreciate you actually “marking" the statues.

Kawagoe Festival

Go to the Kawagoe Festival museum (300yen) and check out the contenders for the battle. 29 floats, or rolling "musical" mini castles with different histories and song roam the streets for a battle against music. The float with the song that makes the most racket and makes its contender castle loose its beat, wins and is greatly applauded by the crowd. The floats themselves are amazingly mechanized allowing them to pass through "real castle" gates. This happens once a year on the third Weekend every October. Don't miss out!