Each year Renkeiji plays a pivotal role in the opening ceremony of the annual Koedo Kawagoe Spring Festival. This year, they have a special treat for the 2023 opening weekend of the spring festival; a wine festa! Lots and lots of wine. This is insider information for this event as the official information is not yet mainstream!
Renkeiji
Renkeiji is a Buddhist temple in Kawagoe. For me personally I always think of it as marking the start of the tourist district in Kawagoe. Moreover, the temple is tightly wound into the fabric of Kawagoe’s history. In addition, it is central to several of the larger events throughout the year. Not just the opening ceremony of the Koedo Spring Festival but other large festivals such as the annual Tojin Soroi Festival. In addition, it hosts various smaller events throughout the year…
Koedo X Sakura X Wa Wine
The tourist area of Kawagoe is fondly known as Koedo Kawagoe or Koedo (Little Edo) for short. Sakura is the Japanese for cherry blossoms and “Wa” is a word used to represent ‘Japanese’, in this case Japanese wine. Enjoy cherry blossoms with your wine in Little Edo. And Renkeiji has some truly beautiful cherry blossoms.
According to “Koedo Kawagoe Style“, there will be several Japanese wine and alcohol vendors as well as food stalls at Renkeij for the two day event. You can purchase alcohol on the grounds of the temple from 10 am until 8 pm on Saturday March 25th and until 6 pm on Sunday March 26th. They will have allocated seats under the cherry blossoms too, so you can relax and enjoy the view with your Japanese wine!
On the 25th there will also be other events nearby for the opening of the spring festival:
Another event coming up at Renkeiji
Another event that will be on at Renkeiji during the period of the spring festival:
- Flower Festival, held once every four months. The next is on Sunday April 9th from 10 am to 3 pm. Official website.
Information
Event: Koedo and Cherry Blossoms and Wa Wine Festa 小江戸と桜と和のワインFesta
Date: Saturday March 25th and Sunday March 26th
Time: 10 am to 8 pm
Cost: free to enter the venue, food / drink charged individually
Venue: Renkeiji, 〒350-0066 Saitama, Kawagoe, Renjakucho, ７−1. View on Google Maps.
Temple’s website – at the time of posting this, they have not yet added the event information to the Renkeiji website.
They have also yet to add the information to the Kawagoe Tourist Association website.
Nearby
- There is a lovely restaurant next door “Today’s Lunch” that serves delicious healthy food.
- Kawagoe Kumano Shrine
- Hatago Coedoya hotel
Editor’s note: first published as Koedo Imo Park on February 10th 2023. Changed to information for the cherry blossom event and republished on February 25th 2023.
The “yakiimo” event looks fun. I hope it doesn’t snow too much tomorrow, right?
Me too. Just watching the report on TBS… they don’t really know yet, right? It may turn to rain. My kids hope it snows a lot!! Haha!
im gonna need more notice to make these things Lynda….