What Is Kawagoe? Little Edo, Kurazukuri Warehouses, the Bell of Time and Sweet Potatoes
This guide is for visitors who want to understand what Kawagoe is before they go. The city in Saitama Prefecture is nicknamed Little Edo because so much of the old merchant town survives. It follows the English pages of the Koedo Kawagoe Tourism Association. We read them on 2026-10-04. The association's English site is partly machine translated, and several dates and figures in it came out garbled. We left those out and kept only what read clearly.
A castle town that became a trading town
The association says Kawagoe Castle was built in the first year of Choroku (1457) by Michizane Ota and his son Dokan, and that the town developed as a castle town representing Musashi Province. In the Meiji era it grew into the leading commercial city of Saitama Prefecture, trading in grains, textiles and chests of drawers. In the Edo period, boats on the Shingashi River carried goods between Kawagoe and Edo. Farm produce and wood went down the river, and textiles, salt and sake came back, along with Edo culture such as festivals.
The kurazukuri streets
Kurazukuri means built like a storehouse, with thick walls of plaster. The association says a great fire burned down one third of the city, but only the storehouse-style buildings survived. Shop owners noticed their fire resistance and began to rebuild in the same style. Later, with help from the government and citizens' groups, the area was selected as an Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings. Signboards from the Taisho and Showa eras also survive, and many of the buildings are still used as shops.
The Bell of Time
The symbol of Kawagoe is Toki no Kane, the Bell of Time, which rises above the kurazukuri townscape. The association says it has told the time in the castle town since the early Edo period. Fires destroyed earlier towers and bells, and the current building is the fourth. Its sound was certified by the Ministry of the Environment as one of the 100 Soundscapes of Japan. We could not confirm the current ringing times on the association's pages, so check them on site.
Candy Alley and sweet potatoes
Kashiya Yokocho, or Candy Alley, is a lane of old-fashioned sweet shops. The association says there were more than 70 shops in the early Showa period. The number has fallen, but the atmosphere remains, and the Ministry of the Environment chose the alley as one of its 100 Fragrant Landscapes.
The association says Kawagoe sweet potatoes were shipped to Edo by boat and became popular as Kawagoe-imo. Together with Kawagoe tea, they are still eaten in many forms, including sweets. Because the town has many rivers, it also had plenty of eel in the Edo period, and long-established eel restaurants still operate. Its dining page lists eel dishes, sweet potato dishes, Japanese and Western cuisine, and cafes.
Shrines and temples
The association says one of Kawagoe's features is its many shrines and temples. Kawagoe Hikawa Shrine has elaborate carving in the Edo style, which is unusual in the Kanto region. Kitain is linked to the Edo Castle buildings that were moved to Kawagoe by boat after the Kanei fire, and Renkeiji Temple is known for prayers about raising children and easy childbirth. The association also promotes a Seven Lucky Gods tour that it says takes about half a day.
Farmland and nature
Its page for foreign visitors says Isanuma Pond in the east is the largest natural wetland in the prefecture, with cherry blossoms in spring, lotus in summer and birdwatching. It adds that farms on the Musashino Plateau use a traditional leaf compost method recognised as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System. Visitors can pick crops such as sweet potatoes, spinach, taro, turnips and daikon at some farms or eat them in local restaurants.
Please follow the local manners
The association's etiquette page, a Kawagoe City project, asks visitors to eat and drink only in designated areas, to smoke only in smoking areas, to put rubbish in the bins, to use crosswalks and to respect private property.
What we could not verify, and therefore left out
- Exact dates of the great fire and the preservation district designation. The English text of the page is corrupted there.
- Opening hours and prices of individual museums and shops.
- The current bell ringing times.
Related guides
- How do you get to Kawagoe from Tokyo by train and get around the old town?
- What is the Kawagoe Festival? Floats, hayashi music and the Hikkawase
Sources
All URLs retrieved 2026-10-04.
- Want to know more! Kawagoe (Koedo Kawagoe Tourism Association) — (history, kurazukuri, Bell of Time, Candy Alley, shrines)
- Feel Edo Culture (Koedo Kawagoe Tourism Association) — (food, nature, agriculture)
- Etiquette for enjoying Kawagoe even more (Koedo Kawagoe Tourism Association) — (manners)
- Eat (Koedo Kawagoe Tourism Association) — (food categories)