Kawagoe’s Hikawa Shrine has a 1500 year history but the wind chime festival just started in 2014. Grab a friend and head up to Kawagoe for a day. But, ladies. Best to leave off the fact that this shrine is for the god of marriage when visiting with a casual male friend. The nice chiming of the fuurin (wind chime) during summertime is something magical to behold. Put Hikawa Shrines Wind Chime Festival (川越氷川縁むすび風鈴) on your list of must do’s for summer festivals in Japan.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7-242QZgVY[/embedyt]
About the Japanese word for Wind Chime
You may have heard that as a foreigner, to be careful when you pronounce the word for cute. Kawaii (可愛い) has TWO “i” in it. And the pronunciation of vowels is very important. If you aren’t careful, you can saw “kowai” which means scary. In terms of mixups, this is generally the one people talk about.
However, fun fact, if you are going to a wind chime festival, especially this one, you need to be extra careful. The word for wind chime in Japanese is fuurin (風鈴). Long “u” sound. Very important long “u” sound. As if you noticed I said this is a marriage shrine, drop that second ‘u’ and you get the word for affair.
Offerings during the Wind Chime Festival
One of the ways to pray to the god of Shinto shrines is ema. Ema are small wooden plaques you can write your wishes on. Leaving them at the shrine the gods will receive them. They are like many other religious practices in which they will later be burned.
Instead of normal ema, during the wind chime festival they are more like wood paper and hung from the chimes. I find this very special as it’s like every time the wind blows, the god is considering your prayer.
Access and Schedule
Kawagoe is a quick jump from Tokyo. To get to the shrine from the station is around a mile (it’s Japan, there’s a lot of walking) or you can take the circle bus that services the historical area, which you should also check out while you’re there! The Wind Chime Festival runs from July 9th to September 9th for 2018. From 9 am to 9 pm, there is plenty of different lighting to take pictures. This temple is pretty shaded so it has the added benefit of not being too hot!
Is this something that interests you? What other festivals are you curious about? Leave me a comment and I’ll check them out :).
Things to do nearby
There’s definitely a days worth of attractions to keep you busy in Kawagoe. Here are some of the highlights:
- 蔵造りの町並み, Kurazukari no
machinami , the warehouse district. Keeping it’s Edo style roots there are lots of shops with souvenirs and food for you to try. - 時の鐘, Toki no
kane , Bell of time. This clock tower is considered one of the 100 Sound Sceneries of Japan. We have a thing with “100” this or that in Japan. - Kawagoe Festival Museum. One of my favorite parts of big festival towns, if you can’t make the real deal, you can at least learn about it at the museum!
- Kawagoe Hon Maru Palace, one of the few remaining palaces of Japan.