Kawagoe Hikawa Shrine

Kawagoe Hikawa Shrine is located in Kawagoe, Japan. Kawagoe is known as the little Edo of
Tokyo for its traditional charm. All the ancient buildings and streets are extremely well-preserved
from the Edo period, a rarity in earthquake-prone Japan. You can get to Kawagoe in just over 30
minutes from Ikebukuro station in Tokyo, making it an ideal location for a day trip from Tokyo.

When exploring a historic town like Kawagoe, it is best to don a kimono or a yukata to truly feel like
a couple from the Edo times. There are many kimono rental shops in Kawagoe, and the 18th of
each month is designated as the Kimono Day in Kawagoe, so if you wear a kimono or yukata, you
can get discounts in certain shops!

While there are many interesting attractions within the town steeped in Edo-period ambience, the
one place that couples should not miss is Hikawa Shrine, particularly in summer. Kawagoe Hikawa
Shrine is a shrine known for its blessing of love and marriage, and the Enmusubi Furin event held
annually from start of July to beginning of September. The Enmusubi Furin event is a summer
match-making event started in 2014. “enmusubi” means match-making and “furin” means wind
chime in Japanese. Wind chimes are traditionally used to ward off evil in Japan, and are usually
hung in shrines and temples during summer.

Upon reaching the shrine, we were greeted with rows of jingling wind chimes right at the very
entrance even before reaching the main highlight. The main highlight, “Furin kairo”, is a corridor
lined with 888 multicoloured wind chimes. Worshippers are supposed to walk through the corridor
with a wish and write their wish on to wooden strips and then tie them to the wind chime. It is highly
popular with many couples, and of course, singles praying for a good match, and took us almost an
hour’s wait to reach the corridor.

Aside from the wind chime corridor which grants a romantic wish, there is also a place for you to
get fortune-telling for love. In most shrines and temples in Japan, you pick your fortune from a box.
But this shrine has a more innovative way for people to fish for their fortune, by literally using a
fishing rod to fish for a fish-shaped fortune. So this is a great way for you and your partner to have
more fun together to try and see whether you are a match made in heaven!

And just like any shrine in Japan, there are charms you can purchase to protect you and your loved
ones, but one particular charm, the red pencil charm, can only be found in Kawagoe Hikawa
Shrine. The red pencil charm is made based on the legend of the “red string of fate”, so that the
more you use the pencil, the closer the fated person gets to you.

When night falls, the shrine is lit up in several places, such as the wind chime corridor. But the
most enchanting would be the Milky Way illumination at the shrine’s sacred river. The river is lit up
each night between 7 to 9 pm, and projection mapping and dry ice is used to create the illusion of
Milky Way.

Save this recommendation to Pinterest by clicking on the image below:

—–
About me:
Hi, I am Seraph, a travel and beauty blogger, if you love travel and beauty like me, visit my blog at seraph-sun.com. I’ve also written a blog about more beautiful sacred spots of Tokyo which you can find by clicking here.

—–
Enjoyed this recommendation for romantic things to do in Japan? Please consider taking the time to help build this unique directory for couples that love to explore locally or travel globally by registering and listing/sharing your own recommendations for others to find.

Click here for more recommendations of romantic things to do in Japan