Pinwheels Kawagoe Hikawa Shrine

Pinwheels Kawagoe – 風車・川越氷川神社。The pinwheels are back like pre-Covid times! In 2020 the pinwheel event was initially cancelled. However, it was then un-cancelled! But it was a smaller display than normal. In 2021 not only are the pinwheels back at Kawagoe Hikawa Shrine, there is a brand new display area too.

Pinwheels in Kawagoe

In May 2019, thousands came to see the pinwheels at Kawagoe Hikawa Shrine in celebration of Emperor Naruhito’s ascension to the throne. However, while it was the first year that Kawagoe Hikawa Shrine had a pinwheel display in May, it was not the first or only time you could see pinwheels in the famous Kawagoe shrine.  

Every year Kawagoe Hikawa Shrine has a pinwheel display in the month of June. For the special event in commemoration of the Emperor’s ascension to the throne the pinwheels were red and white, but usually they are a pale blue and white and a light purple and white. The pinwheel event that preludes the wind chimes was introduced around 2016. It is held annually during the month of June.

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Kawagoe Hikawa Shrine has always been a popular shrine. But when they introduced a summer wind chime event in 2014, the number of annual visitors multiplied exponentially. It became on of the key places to visit in the summer and firmly put itself on the best list of things to see in Kawagoe. The wind chime event has proved to be an extremely popular event and put them on the international map, attracting more expat and foreign visitors more than ever before. The pinwheel event is surprisingly still not that well known. 

Pinwheels in 2021

In 2021 they have added a new pinwheel area in front of the new Kaikan, i.e. the old dai ichi car park which was closed last year as part of several renovations on the shrine’s grounds. At the old car park the they have two different pinwheels – cream and white and blue and white. The pinwheels at the stone torii on the south of the shrine are blue and white.

Access pinwheels and wind chimes

Address: 2-11-3 Miyashita Machi, Kawagoe, Saitama Phone: 049-224-0589

You can walk from Hon-kawagoe or Kawagoe stations along a tourist route, but it takes about 40 minutes. There is a tourist bus or a regular bus that will bring you close. There is free parking for 300 cars. 

Source: An account of visiting the wind chimes

Please note as of April 2021 there is no longer any official and / or free parking for Kawagoe Hikawa Shrine. Dai Ichi car park is gone and Dai Ni is now a coin parking lot.

Official website