Kawagoe, city in central Japan, on Honshu Island, in Saitama Prefecture about 38 km (about 24 mi) northwest of downtown Tokyo. Kawagoe's industries include a chemical plant and factories for processing food from the surrounding agricultural area. Sweet potatoes are a local specialty. Kawagoe is served by four railway lines to Tokyo. The main visitor attraction in Kawagoe is Senba Toshogu, one of three Japanese temples enshrining Tokugawa Ieyasu, founder of the Tokugawa shogunate (1603-1867). Other places of interest are the Buddhist Kitain Temple and a museum dedicated to sweet potatoes. In October the city hosts the annual Kawagoe Festival at Hikawa Shrine. The center of the city still has rows of dozozukuri, traditional merchant houses from the Edo, or Tokugawa, period.
Kawagoe was founded as a castle town (administrative headquarters) in 1457 by the samurai Ota Doshin. It developed as the main cultural center of Musashi Province, a historic province that corresponds with the present-day prefectures of Saitama, Tokyo, and part of Kanagawa. Kawagoe prospered during the Edo period and came to be called “little Edo,” in reference to the Tokugawa capital of Edo (now Tokyo). Since World War II (1939-1945) the city has grown as a residential suburb of Tokyo. Population (1999) 322,478.Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2001
http://encarta.msn.com © 1997-2001 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Kawagoe Information info
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