Why was this streetscape formed in this location? Urban structure and location conditions
The “Toki no Kane” (Bell of Time) and the stately black-painted storehouses that are synonymous with Kawagoe are an area that is still carefully preserved today and attracts many tourists from all over the country, but this area did not come about by chance. In fact, this beautiful streetscape had a historical and geographical background, as well as a necessity in terms of the city structure.
Roots and structure of a castle town
The prototype of Kawagoe’s townscape was created during the late Muromachi period to the Sengoku period, when Ota Dokan and his son Michizane built Kawagoe Castle, and the area began to develop as a key point in Musashi Province.
During the Edo period, Kawagoe Domain was developed as the northern defense of the Tokugawa Shogunate, and urban planning was carried out as a castle town. A distinctive feature was that the area was zoned around the castle, with samurai areas, merchant areas, and temple and shrine areas. In particular, the current Kurazukuri area developed as a merchant town and was also a key transportation hub.
Location and topographical influences
Kawagoe city is located on the eastern edge of the Musashino Plateau, on a gentle slope with a large elevation difference. It has a relatively low risk of flooding, has suffered little damage from major earthquakes, and has good access to rivers and roads (Kawagoe Kaido and Shingashi River), making it an ideal location for a logistics and commercial hub.
In addition, its prosperity as the end point of the Kawagoe Kaido road connecting Edo and Kawagoe strengthened its economic ties with Edo, and it became so prosperous that it was nicknamed “Little Edo.”
The relationship between fires and storehouse-style architecture
The current streetscape of storehouses began to take shape after the Great Kawagoe Fire in 1893 (Meiji 26).
Kawagoe was densely packed with wooden buildings at the time, so a fire destroyed much of the city, including the Bell of Time and Renkeiji Temple. This prompted a re-evaluation of the “earthen storehouse” style, which had been seen in some areas since the Edo period, and a large number of merchant houses built in this style, which were very expensive for fire prevention purposes, began to be built all at once. It is said that the cost of construction was 11,000 yen at the time, an astonishing amount considering that 1 sho of rice cost about 9 to 10 sen at the time. The oldest storehouse-style building is the Osawa family home, built in 1792 and designated as an Important Cultural Property.
As a result, the Kawagoe fire marked a major turning point in shaping the prototype of the city’s current appearance, forming a “historic landscape of fireproof architecture” that continues to this day.
“City individuality” born from accumulated history
Kawagoe’s storehouse-style streets are a combination of urban structure, location, and disaster prevention elements; they are, so to speak, the “memory of the city.” The streets, created at the intersection of the natural environment, social background, and people’s lives, have a depth that cannot be described simply as “retro.”
This area, where you can feel the layers of history just by walking around, is the very embodiment of a “living urban history.” Why not take a look at the “why” behind it while you’re sightseeing?
