Zoumon Kashiya-Yokocho Branch

The good old small-time candy stores are lined up at the Yokochō. There were about 70 houses lined up in the beginning of Shōwa, and multiple sweets were produced and wholesaled. As of now, there are about 20 houses that produces and sells contrived cheap sweets such as the mint candy and Kintaro candy, which provides a nostalgic feel and allows both, adults and children to enjoy having the mind of a child. It is also selected as the Ministry of Environment’s “The 100 Best Scented Sceneries”.

The two genuine Dashis (festival cars) that has been pulled at the Kawagoe Festival is on display along with materials related to the Kawagoe Festival. The powerful atmosphere of the Kawagoe Festival can be physically felt all year round. In addition, there is a demonstration of musical accompaniment (about 20 minutes) on a regular basis at the exhibition hall.

The Kawagoe Kurazukuri Museum was built by Koyama Bunzō, a tobacco wholesaler, right after the great fire in 1893 with reference to the few houses of Kurazukuri and Tokyo’s Nihonbashi Merchant that were not exposed to the fire. The design, structure, and the inside of the Kurazukuri House of Kawagoe can be toured, and a breath of Meiji’s atmosphere can be felt to this day.

Toki no Kane is said to be built first in the Castletown Tagachō during the Kanei era by the lord of the Kawagoe Castle, Sakai Tadakatsu. The current bell tower was rebuilt the following year of Kawagoe’s great fire that took place in 1893, and is a tower structured as a three-story with a height of about 16 meters. It is Kawagoe’s symbol and denotes that “time” is indispensable for daily life. As of today, the bell rings for times a day (6 am, noon, 3 pm, and 6 pm).

A “townscape of kura warehouses” still remain in Kawagoe. The kura warehouses have a fireproof architecture cleverly built to prevent fires and was developed as a form of house for the merchants of Edo. It retains an image of Edo that cannot be seen in today’s Tokyo. It was chosen as the country’s “important preservation district of historic buildings” in December of 1999 and was selected as “Japan’s 100 Beautiful Historical Environments” in 2007 of January.