Kawagoe Castle was originally built in 1457. The one surviving building (Honmaru-Goten) was constructed in 1848, and was the residence of the castle lord and where he attended to government affairs. Admission for the Honmaru-Goten alone is 100 yen. The combined ticket (with the City Museum and the City Art Museum) is 370 yen.
A few outside pictures
Inside
View of the garden area
This is a meeting re-creation of the feudal lords.
The toilets
Nearby is Kawagoe Miyoshino Shrine, said to be the guardian shrine of Kawagoe Castle. It is now a neighborhood shrine with a children’s playground, and is open to the public only one day a year - New Year’s Day.
Small projects this week
I’m working on the second layer of stitches for the beady fobs. I think adding the little stitches on top of the variegated eyelets makes a big difference in the look.
I finished covering the tape measure and will add tiny beads to the seams next.
We met on Sunday and started a new project - covers for winding tape measures. We are using different materials and techniques but they are all coming along nicely.
Teatime - the green leaves are holding mochi (sticky pounded rice), the green and white papers hold green tea rolled cookies with cream filling, cookies with nuts, castella (fluffy Japanese sponge cake) in two flavors. (In case you are wondering, no one ate all the treats at stitching group).
I made these off and on over the last month, but without an active project, hexagons have been on the back burner. Most of these were made with Japanese fabrics.
Japan Railway offers an autumn, three consecutive day ticket for local and rapid trains across Japan, which costs only 7850 yen. I took advantage of the ticket and will have several posts ahead about my adventure. The first day I went to Kawagoe, Saitama Prefecture. It is an Edo era castle town a short distance from Tokyo. I had been there before in 2021, but you can never see and do everything in one trip, plus some things change. I walked around, looking but not stopping much on my way to the Kawagoe Castle ruins area where the Honmaru-Goten (Inner Citadel Palace) is. (A full post is coming on that).
The historic 85 Bank Building, built in 1918, reopened on May 15, 2024 as the Resona Koedo Terrace. It is recognized as a national registered tangible cultural property.
There are many interesting old buildings that are repurposed as shops and restaurants.
Toki no Kane is the historic bell tower that was originally built in the early 1600’s, but has been rebuilt several times due to fire damage. The current tower was constructed in 1894, after the Great Fire of Kawagoe destroyed the previous tower. The tower is three stories (16 meters) tall. The chimes ring out four times a day 6 am, 12 noon, 3 pm, and 6 pm). In 1996, the Japan Ministry of the Environment designated the Bell Tower’s chimes as one of the “100 Best Sound Sceneries in Japan.” The Tower is located just off Kurazukuri Street.
The next trip post will continue on to the Kawagoe Castle area.
