Lake Ma-ze

A shop that sells handmade soba made from 100% local buckwheat flour. They also use ingredients which are grown pesticide free or use 50% lower pesticides certified by the prefecture. Izumi-tei offers dishes made from ingredients at the peak of freshness and cultivated with the highest level of safety. Soba making experiences are also available with a reservation.

Jōshinin Hyakutai Kannon-dō, commonly called “Sazaedō,” was built to mourn the victims of the great volcanic eruption of Mt. Asama in 1783. The architecture has a rare helical structure with two exterior layers and a three-layer interior spiral corridor, enabling worshippers to practice the Buddhist etiquette of walking around a corridor three times in a clockwise direction (unyosanso). The first layer enshrines the Kannon of the Chichibu Sacred Site No. 34, the second layer enshrines the Kannon of the Bando Sacred Site No. 33, and the third layer enshrines the Kannon of the Saikoku Sacred Site No. 33. The reception desk is located at the Honjo City Tourism and Agriculture Center.

The Hanawa Hokiichi Memorial Museum commemorates Hanawa Hokiichi, a blind scholar of Japanese studies (kokugaku) in the mid-Edo period. Apart from the famous collective title Gunsho Ruijyū and its raw lumber, there are approximately 200 archives on display inside the building. You can see a hand-stitched purse from his mother, a treasured possession he held dear throughout his life, and many other personal articles. The exhibition room also has a section for videos and audio tours.

One of the most prestigious shrines in the prefecture, it has no main shrine due to being dedicated to the scared mountain Mt. Omuro, and is one of few shrines that still practice this more ancient form of Shinto belief, the only other two shrines of which are Suwa Grand Shrine in Nagano and Omiwa Shrine in Nara. The shrine is said to have originated when the god Yamato Takeru no Mikoto hid tools for fire starting in Mt. Omuro. The shrine also enshrines the goddess of the sun, Amaterasu Omikami, and the god of sea and storms, Susanoo no Mikoto.

Built in 1894 by Kimura Kuzō, a company that pours its utmost effort into improving sericulture technique, this facility is a designated cultural property of Saitama Prefecture. It is a modernized inheritance (Silk Industry Heritage) where visitors can get a glimpse of the industry of sericulture.