Last week we had some unseasonably warm days. On Wednesday we went to Kawagoe (川越) in Saitama Ken (埼玉県) to be tourists in “Little Edo” (小江戸). There is very little in town that is actually from the Edo Period, but there are many old buildings from the late 19th Century and early 20th Century, some made to look like they are from the Edo Period. It made for a great day trip from Tokyo, especially on a weekday with no crowds.

I lived in nearby Tokorozawa many years ago, but this was my first visit to Kawagoe.

We arrived at one of the temples (or was it a shrine?) just as the neighboring kindergarten was letting out. All the moms parked their bikes on the temple grounds before picking up their kids.

This lovely, 360-year-old building is known as Jigendo (慈眼堂) and can be found on the grounds of Kitain (喜多院).

Related posts:

1. Little Edo – Part 2 Toki no kane (時の鐘) is the name of Kawagoe’s original bell tower, which is still used four times a day. We heard the noon ringing. The original is about 400...
2. Sagano thatched roof When we rented bikes in Arashiyama we road up to Adashino-Nenbutsu-ji (化野念仏寺) in Sagano (嵯峨野). The above photograph was the view from where we parked our bicycles right across from...
3. Suwa Jinja (諏訪神社) I have yet to get past part one in my Suwa Jinja Matsuri series. Someday I’ll return to those pics. Fast forward six months to a neat-sky Sunday in February....
4. Shoshika (少子化) While walking through Koganei Park (小金井公園) on Walk #8, I happened upon hundreds of small children and their moms having a massive picnic. Mom bikes went on forever under the...
5. Zen week The highlight of the previously mentioned walk is Heirinji (平林寺), quite possibly the most wonderful place on earth. I have been to other Zen temples before in China, Kyoto, and...

Posted on January 25th, 2010 under Japan • Tags: bikes, buildings, kawagoe. • RSS 2.0 feed • You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed