Historic Townscape

The shops with walls made from wattle and daub in Kawagoe are famous examples of Kurazukuri (warehouse) style merchant houses. This ingenious construction method for fire-resistant buildings designed to avoid being burned down in a spreading fire became popular for town houses in Edo. On Kawagoe’s Ichiban-gai street, you can see these remnants of the Edo townscape, which can no longer be found in Tokyo. In December 1999, Ichiban-gai was selected as an Important Preservation District for Groups of Historic Buildings in Japan, and in January 2007 it was selected as one of the 100 beautiful places preserving the history and culture of Japan. Among the preserved buildings, the Osawa Family House has been designated as an important cultural property. The building was constructed in 1792 as a shop dealing in silk and cotton fabrics for kimonos. It survived the Kawagoe Great Fire of 1893, as a result of which other merchants in Kawagoe were encouraged to build kurazukuri buildings.

Access

• By car: Short drive
• On foot: 8 minutes
• By bus: From the bus stop near the Hotel