Namegawa Farmers’ Market

The nature and the culture of Namegawa town is structured to resemble a museum, with the Eco-Museum Center acting as a hub that provides a wide range of information about Namegawa town. The Tokyo bitterling, a freshwater fish native to Japan, is designated as a national treasure. Research related to its artificial breeding and ecology has been taking place in order to re-introduce the Tokyo bitterling to the wildlife.

The Musashi-Kyuryo National Government Park was built to commemorate the 100 years of the Meiji era. Musashi-Kyuryo is Japan's first national park and is located in a hilly area of 304 hectares stretching between Hiki district, Namegawa town, and Yagii in Kumagaya of Saitama Prefecture. The park has plenty of forested areas, but the environment is diverse with ponds, swamps, marshes, and grasslands, making it a place where precious flora and fauna can grow and thrive. Also, it's one of the few places within the metropolitan area where you truly can feel in contact with nature.

The park opened in 1990 as part of spreading “Botan (peony)”, the city’s flower. This is a prominent peony park in the Kanto region with roughly 30,000 square meters of colorful peony blooming from the middle of April to early May, with a “Botan Matsuri (Peony Festival)” taking place at the prime of the peonies blooming. Furthermore, Hydrangea, Japanese maple, Chimonanthus, a large playground complex, an open lawn, and an observatory can be enjoyed throughout the year.

It started in 1182 when Hatakeyama Shigetada offered a statue of a devil holding an iron rod to protect people from evil during the construction of the Sugayayakata. A rare shrine that enshrines the “oni (devil)”, with a Setsubun Festival taking place every year on February 3rd, with chants of “Fuku wa uchi, Oni wa uchi, Akuma soto (Out with the bad spirits, in with the good fortune and oni/devil)”. In addition, the shrine is known as the god of victory, with soldiers praying for good fortune during war.

In 712, it is said that during the Heian period, Minamoto-no-Yorinobu, who was heading towards the suppression of Taira-no-Tadatsune, saw a dream in which he received an arrow and bow from a God riding on a white fox. Thanks to this, he was able to gain his victory in the battle, which led him to contribute to the establishment of this shrine. This prefectural cultural property is constructed as an incarnation of Buddha and the inside and outside of the main building of the shrine is crafted through the use of advanced techniques. Praying here is known to bring abundant harvests, prosperity in business, art proficiency, and good luck in challenges. Because it can be read as “Yakyū”, many of those involved in baseball visit to pray. The best time to see the flowers of the peony park is around mid-April as it blooms with the wisteria and azalea.