The Tanabata Festival is held on August 7th annually in Hikawa Shrine Kawagoe.  They have a Wind Chime event simultaneously.

The shrine is decorated beautifully with bands of colour from the Tanabata wish strips. You can enjoy the decoration all day and add your own wish to the bamboo trees, but the festival itself is in the evening from 6 pm. They read kamishibai and have music and dance including shakuhachi flute performances.

Writing wishes on coloured strips of paper for Tanabata festival:

The strips of coloured paper laid out for anyone to write and hang their Star Festival wishes:

For more details on the wind chimes at Hikawa Shrine:

http://insaitama.com/wind-chimes-at-hikawa-shrine-in-kawagoe/

Hikawa Shrine by night during the summer

Kawagoe Hikawa Shrine by night in 2019

Access Tanabata Festival at Kawagoe Hikawa Shrine

Address:2-11-3 Miyashitamachi, Kawagoe, Saitama 350-0052

Access from Kawagoe Station

Koedo Kawagoe bus one day pass allows you unlimited travel on the Koedo Kawagoe buses. It costs 300 yen. In the bus they have a monitor with sightseeing information.  Some tourist places give discounts on souvenirs or entrance tickets to people with a one day pass.
Koedo Meguri (Loop) Bus from Kawagoe station. You can buy a one day pass that allows you unlimited travel on the Meguri Bus. It stops at 16 different locations. 104 different shops, offer discount services such as souvenirs, food, and entrance fees to facilities for holders of this day pass. There are announcements in English and Chinese as well as Japanese so foreigners can feel at ease. More information here:
http://www.new-wing.co.jp/koedo/index_e.html
Map in the grey details box at the very bottom of the post.

URL: http://kawagoehikawa.jp

For more events in Saitama, please see the main events calendar.

Moved to the events calendar in 2016 and updated annually. Republished in September 2019.