Find out what’s on in Saitama this weekend with the best Saitama event list on the web. If its on in Saitama, its on insaitama.com!
Please see the grey “details box” at the bottom of each individual event for dates, hours, prices, location and external links.
**During the 2020 Coronavirus Outbreak events are subject to change and cancellation at a moment’s notice. Please do always check with the official website for any last minute changes or cancellations.**
Postponed: Pinwheels Kawagoe Hikawa Shrine
June 5 @ 09:00 - July 5 @ 21:00
Free
Pinwheels Kawagoe – 風車・川越氷川神社。 On April 9th 2020, the Kawagoe Hikawa Shrine has a note on their website to say they plan to go ahead with annual events. However, on May 26th they updated to say, while they hope to go ahead, there is a chance they won’t be able to. On that date they also wrote that they had put the hoardings up for the pinwheels, but that does not mean they will definitely go ahead with the event. They are preparing in the hope that they can. As of June 4th, they have still not confirmed or denied or set a date for the 2020 pinwheels.
Last year in May, 2019, thousands came to see the pinwheels in 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.
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.
Access pinwheels and wind chimes
Kawagoe Hikawa Shrine is open from 9 am to 9 pm in summer.
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
Events by their very nature are tentative. Please do check with the official sources for any last minute changes due to weather or other mitigating factors, particularly with the current Coronavirus outbreak.