Saitama Prefecture Specialty Products, Souvenirs, Shrines and Temples, and Travel | 47 Prefecture Guide

Saitama is just north of the enormous consumer market of Edo This location shaped the prefecture. Its industries and crafts can also be explained by that distance.

Specialties

Soka senbei rice crackers were born in Soka, a post town on the Nikko Kaido. They began as preserved food made by flattening leftover dumplings and drying them. It was just the right form for selling to travelers.

Sayama tea is produced in an area near the northern limit for tea cultivation. To withstand the cold, the leaves grow thick, and a stronger final firing called “Sayama hiire” is used to bring out its roasted aroma.

Shizuoka is known for volume, Kyoto for gyokuro, Fukuoka for Yame tea, and Saitama for the aroma of firing. Even with the same tea, each production region competes in a different way.

Fukaya leeks, gokabo sweets, and Kawagoe sweet potatoes.

Souvenirs

Soka senbei, Sayama tea, and gokabo. All three keep at room temperature and are light. Souvenirs from roads with many travelers tend to be those that meet these conditions.

In Kawagoe, there are dagashi sweets from Kashiya Yokocho and sweet potato sweets.

Shrines and Temples

Hikawa Shrine in Omiya, Saitama City, is the head shrine of the approximately 280 Hikawa shrines said to exist across Japan in total.

The approach is about 2 kilometers long, placing it among the longest shrine approaches in Japan according to estimates. The place name “Omiya” comes from calling this shrine the “great shrine.” Kobe, Omiya, Kashima: this series has seen many examples of shrines becoming place names. Hikawa Shrine was originally a water deity in the waterfront area called Minuma.

Mitsumine Shrine in Chichibu City stands on a mountain at an elevation of 1,100 meters, and wolves sit there instead of guardian dogs. Chichibu Shrine in Chichibu City is the shrine of the Chichibu Night Festival.

Sightseeing

Kawagoe is called “Little Edo” and is an Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings, with rows of warehouse-style merchant houses.

These warehouse-style buildings remain because, after the great fire of 1893, only the storehouses had not burned The building style residents chose after the disaster became the townscape seen today.

Chichibu Night Festival is held every year on December 2 and 3. In 2016, it was included in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage listing for "Yama, Hoko, Yatai, float festivals in Japan." Spring moss phlox and the Nagatoro gorge are also in this region.

Traditional Crafts

Nationally designated items are Iwatsuki Dolls, Edo kimekomi dolls, Kasukabe paulownia chests, Gyoda tabi socks, Chichibu Meisen, making 5 items in all.

Iwatsuki is known nationwide as a production area for hina dolls. Hosokawa-shi is one of the three types of washi registered as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2014.

For details, see [VILLAGE Report vol.36] Japan’s No. 1 Producer of Hina Dolls

Articles About This Prefecture

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References: Saitama Prefecture, Soka City, Iruma City, Kawagoe City, Chichibu City, Saitama City, Hikawa Shrine, Agency for Cultural Affairs, Association for the Promotion of Traditional Craft Industries — Value Village Editorial Team