Toki no Kane | JBinnacle – A Travel Logbook

I went to Ikebukuro to exchange my JR Pass, and from there I went to Kawagoe [川越], a small town near Tokyo. The historical centre of Kawagoe is called Koedo [小江戸], Little Edo or Little Tokyo. I have actuallly visited Kawagoe before and I had not thought that much of it, but I wanted to give it another chance as I was going to a fan-event over there the following day, so I got myself a hotel over there and spent the afternoon / evening wandering the town.

I arrived by train at the Kawagoe Station and I headed to the touristic area. My first stop was Kawagoe Kumano Jinja [川越熊野神社]. I thought about getting a shuuin but there were too many people and I backed off. I thought there would be fewer people the following day but I was wrong. Oh, well. Live and learn.

After that I found my way to the Black Warehouse District Kurazukuri no Machinami [蔵造りの町並] , which is an area with houses that date from the Edo period. Today they are shops, mostly tourist traps, though. I am not a big fan.

On one of the side ways you can find the Clock Tower, Toki no Kane [時の鐘], which is one of the few historical clock towers in Japan (although it was rebuilt after it burnt down in the 19th century).

And I moved on to the Kawagoe Hikawa Jinja [川越氷川神社], which has a very cool wind chime tunnel, but it was packed at the time.

Later I visited the Kawagoe Castle / Honmaru Residence [川越城本丸御殿]. The castle is long gone, but the palace was built in the 19th century.

I walked past the Reconstructed Moat of the Castle (I have no idea why there are no pictures of it?) and Yukizukainari Jinja, which was closed off. Then I headed off to the hotel to check in, and after that, I did some walking over the less touristic / known area of town. Right behind the hotel I came across Sugahara Jinja [菅原神社].

My next stop was snooping around Myōzenji [妙善寺] and its adjacent graveyard.

Then over to Fujisengen Jinja [富士浅間神社], a nice little shrine with a historical stelae next to it, the Shishimizuka of Uranaikata [占肩の鹿見塚].

From the grounds I could see Jitsuzaiji [実在寺], which is a very modern temple.

After that I walked towards Senbahikawa Jinja [仙波氷川神社], which I’m sure is haunted by a nekomata which appeared out of nowhere.

Senbagashishiseki Kouen [仙波河岸史跡公園], an awesome and large park with a lake and a ghost-proof bridge.

The park has a small temple altar, Enmeijizoson [延命地蔵尊] to one side.

On the other side stands Senbaatago Jinja [仙波愛宕神社] and I bought some takoyaki for dinner.

Walked distance: 22797 steps / 16.3 km

For my last full day in Japan I set off to Kawagoe. Not coming from downtown Tokyo, I did not take the JR line, so when I came out I could not grab a map. Thus, I had to brave it and get on with it – as my phone did not recognise where I wanted to go. Wohoo, orientation adventure. And yup, you guessed it – I got lost. However, this time it was a fortunate loss, because I ended up at the Seiya-san Muryōshuji Kita-in [星野山無量寿寺喜多院] temple complex, which I had marked as ‘maybe on my way back’ originally. It was a very lucky turn, because I met up with a very nice Japanese lady who explained the complex to me and with whom I made friends. She showed me around the premises and recommended the museum – and the 500 disciples of Buddha Sculpture Garden – Gohyaku Rakan [五百羅漢寺], which I loved to pieces.

Kita-in Temple main building with the pagoda in the background:

Kita-in Temple Complex: Gohyaku Rakan:

Kita-in Temple Complex: Amazing main building:

Hakusan Gongen [白山権現], adjacent to the Kita-in Temple Complex

After saying my goodbyes and checking the museum, I headed off towards the area called Koedo [小江戸] (Little Edo), stopping around to check on small temples and shrines. Koedo features black buildings that survived WWII bombings because the pilots thought they were burnt already. This was the main thing I wanted to visit, and I was surprised at the fact that I met very few Westerners here. I guess it was due to my visiting on a weekday. The most famous street is the Black warehouse district, Kurazukuri no Machinam [蔵造りの町並].

I found the Clock Tower, Toki no Kane [時の鐘],

Once I was done wandering around Koedo Kawagoe, there was something else I wanted to check, the main Hikawa Jinja [氷川神社] in Omiya [大宮], a district in Saitama [埼玉], which was fortunately on my way back. There were huge koi in the pond there.