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Saitama-ken, immediately northeast of the capital, comes in for a lot of stick as an achingly dull place. This is a gross generalization and, if anything, the prefecture should be high on your list of place to visit because it's home to the old castle town of KAWAGOE , an interesting and highly enjoyable quick day-trip, only 40km north of Tokyo. Although it doesn't look promising on arrival, Kawagoe's compact area of sights, around 1km north of the main station, is aptly described as a "Little Edo", and can easily be toured in a few hours, although once you've browsed the many traditional craft shops and paused to sample the town's culinary delights you'll probably find the day has flown by. This would certainly be the case on October 14 and 15, when Kawagoe's grand matsuri is held, one of the most lively festivals in the Tokyo area, involving some 25 ornate floats (called dashi ) and hundreds of costumed revellers. Kawagoe's fortunes owe everything to its strategic position on the Shingashi River and Kawagoe-kaido, the ancient highway to the capital. If you wanted to get goods to Tokyo, then called Edo, they more than likely had to go via Kawagoe, thus the town's merchants prospered as a result. They accumulated the cash to build fireproof kurazukuri , the black, two-storey shophouses the town is now famous for. At one time there were over 200 of these houses, but their earthenware walls didn't prove quite so effective against fire as hoped (nor were they much use in the face of Japan's headlong rush to modernization). Even so, some thirty still remain, with sixteen prime examples clustered together along Chuo-dori, around 1km north of the JR and Tobu stations, protected as Important Cultural Properties. Along Chuo-dori, around 200m before the main enclave of kurazukuri , you'll pass a small shrine, Kumano-jinja , beside which is a tall storehouse containing a magnificent dashi float; this is your only chance to inspect one up close outside of the annual festival. At the next major crossroads, on the lefthand side, is the old Kameya okashi (sweet) shop, warehouse and factory. These buildings now house the Yamazaki Museum of Art (daily except Thurs 9.30am-5pm; Y500), dedicated to the works of Meiji-era artist Gaho Hashimoto. Some of his elegant screen paintings hang in the main gallery, while in the converted kura (storehouses) there are artistic examples of the sugary confections once made here. If this gets your mouth watering, you'll be glad to know entry includes a cup of tea and okashi . Heading up Chuo-dori, you'll pass several craft shops, including Machikan , which specializes in knives and swords (costing anything from Y20,000 to Y800,000), and Sobiki Atelier , which sells woodwork. On the left, take a moment to duck into Choki-in , a temple with a statue of an emaciated Gandara-style Buddha in its grounds along with a pretty lily pond and sculpted bushes and trees. Back on the main street, the Kurazukuri Shiryokan (Tues-Sun 9am-5pm; Y100) is a museum housed inside an old tobacco wholesaler's, one of the first kurazukuri to rebuilt after the great fire of 1893. In the living quarters you can squeeze around the tiny twisting staircase that leads from the upper to the ground level, and in one of the kura , view turn-of-the-century firefighting uniforms and woodblock prints of the fires that ravaged the town. On the right, opposite the museum, you won't miss the Toki-no-Kane , the wooden bell tower, rebuilt in 1894, that was used to raise the alarm when fires broke out. Now an electric motor powers the bell that rings four times daily. Take the turning on the left after the bell tower and follow it down until you reach Yoju-in , another handsomely wrought temple with pleasant grounds. Just north of here is the Kashiya Yokocho , or confectioners alley, a picturesque pedestrian street still lined with several colourful sweet and toy shops - another great place to browse for souvenirs. It's a 500-metre hike east of the Kurazukuri Shiryokan, along the main road, to reach the scant remains of Kawagoe Castle, now mainly parkland and the grounds of the senior high school, but still containing the vast Honmaru-goten , the former residence of the daimyo . Inside is a museum (Tues-Sun 9am-5pm; Y100) containing mainly archeological artefacts, but it's the building itself, dating from 1848, that is the main attraction, with its Chinese-style gabled roof, spacious tatami rooms and gorgeous painted screens. Heading south from the castle grounds you'll soon strike Naritasan Betsu-in , an otherwise unremarkable shrine that comes to life on the 28th of each month, when it hosts a busy flea market.
Your Tip for Kawagoe
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