Kawagoe City Nakacho Information Centre

Old Yamazaki Family Villa was built as a retreat for Kashichi Yamazaki, the 5th generation of Kameya, a long-established confectionery store of Kawagoe. In 2000, the main house, tearoom, and the benches of the waiting room were designated as a tangible cultural property of the city and in 2006, a portion of the building was donated to the city. In February of 2011, the garden was registered as the national registered monument (location of scenic beauty). In addition, on September 30th of 2019, the purlin was designated as the nation’s important cultural property (edifice). (Tearoom and the benches of the waiting room were also designated). In the garden of the Old Yamazaki Family Villa, there are architectures of a Japanese-style house and a Western-style house along with an example of a Japanese-style garden with a tearoom designed by Katsuya Yasuoka and is recognized of value with a high evaluation for its “contribution to the development for the culture of landscape architecture”.

The only sake brewery at Kura-no-machi, Kawagoe. Even though the sake brewery cannot be toured, the adjoining Matsumoto Shōyu, established 200 years ago, can be toured free of charge. Please stop by for a visit! The sake brewery is only 1 minute by foot from the Toki no Kane, the center of Kawagoe’s tourist destination.

A townscape of “kura warehouses” still remains in Kawagoe. The kura warehouses were cleverly built with fireproof architecture and developed as housing for the merchants of Edo. The warehouses retain an image of Edo that cannot be seen in modern day Tokyo. They were chosen as national “Important Preservation Districts for Groups of Traditional Buildings” in December of 1999 and were selected as one of “Japan’s 100 Beautiful Historical Environments” in January of 2007.

Matsumoto Shoyu store has been making soy sauce at Kawagoe for 250 years. The soy brewery is established in 1831, and they are still staying true to their traditional methods. Inside, you can even find 40 cedar buckets that have been in use since the Edo period. At this brewery in Kawagoe City, designated as an important part of the city landscape, you can come in contact with the culture and traditions of one of Japan's most important ingredients.

Toki no Kane is said to have been first built in the Castletown Tagachō during the Kan’ei era (1624-1644) by the lord of Kawagoe Castle, Sakai Tadakatsu. The current bell tower was rebuilt the year following Kawagoe’s great fire in 1893, and is a three-story tower with a height of about 16 meters. It is a symbol of Kawagoe and denotes that “time” is indispensable for daily life. As of today, the bell rings four times a day (6 am, noon, 3 pm, and 6 pm).