Kawagoe: A walk through history - Japan Today

JapanToday Sotokanda S Bldg. 4F 5-2-1 Sotokanda Chiyoda-ku Tokyo 101-0021 Japan Tel: +81 3 5829 5900 Fax: +81 3 5829 5919 Email: editor@japantoday.com ©2025 GPlusMedia Inc. I’ve often felt that the best form of time travel is walking. The city of Kawagoe in Saitama Prefecture, an easy day trip from Tokyo, is a great place for such time travel. In a day of wandering Kawagoe, you can go back in time more than 1,000 years and then walk forward in time through the various ages that have played a role in Kawagoe’s long history. Kawagoe is perhaps best known for its role as a supply town for Tokyo and its predecessor, Edo, up to about 100 years ago. In addition, it has an early history as a religious center, and a political/military history closely tied to the Tokugawa Shogunate. The religious history Begin your visit at Kitain, a Tendai Buddhist temple founded nearly 1,200 years ago. When the temple was destroyed by fire in 1638, Iemitsu, the third Tokugawa Shogun, arranged for one of Ed

JapanToday Sotokanda S Bldg. 4F 5-2-1 Sotokanda Chiyoda-ku Tokyo 101-0021 Japan Tel: +81 3 5829 5900 Fax: +81 3 5829 5919 Email: editor@japantoday.com ©2025 GPlusMedia Inc. I’ve often felt that the best form of time travel is walking. The city of Kawagoe in Saitama Prefecture, an easy day trip from Tokyo, is a great place for such time travel. In a day of wandering Kawagoe, you can go back in time more than 1,000 years and then walk forward in time through the various ages that have played a role in Kawagoe’s long history. Kawagoe is perhaps best known for its role as a supply town for Tokyo a