The Tunnel of Love in Hikawa Shrine, Kawagoe

Summer is hot in Japan and you know what else is hot in Japan? Love.

Summer is also the season for love in Japan as we celebrate the Tanabata  (七夕) or also known as the Festival of the Star Lovers. The festival is celebrated from July 4th till August 31st.

For individuals who are looking for love, a visit to the shrine during the summer season is one way to improve their chances of finding their true love. Therefore, love pilgrimage to the Kifune Shrine in Kyoto and the Izumo-Taisha in Shimane is important, if not, necessary for individuals who are looking for their true love. These shrines are known as some of the most ancient and important Shinto shrines in Japan and has been shrines for those who seek love.

If you can't make your way to the above-mentioned shrines, guess what? We have another relatively unknown love shrine in the well-known tourist town of Kawagoe. It is the Hikawa Shrine.

With a history of 1,500 years, this shrine is known as a shrine dedicated to love and improving relationships between couples, friends, co-workers and people in general. This shrine worships the God of Marriage and it is one of the shrines known for weddings other than the famous Meiji Jingu. There is a good chance that you can witness a wedding procession surrounded by greenery and not crowd of tourists as in Meiji Jingu.

In the past, there was a belief that if you take home a stone from this shrine and pray to it, it will improve your relationship with your partner. So there was one period when every morning, a shrine maiden will pick 20 stones a day to be blessed by the shrine's priest and these stones will be handed to the determined individuals who got up early to join the line outside the shrine's gate for the stones.

Well, that was in the past. Today, the shrine does not distribute the blessed stones anymore and no, you are not allowed to pick up any stones from the ground of the shrine. Oh no! Then, how can we enhance our love lives now, you might ask.

So, instead of picking up stones, Hikawa Shrine has prepared a special way for lovers and individuals who are looking for love to make their dreams come true. Hikawa Shrine has prepared two tunnels of wind-chime which is named as the 'tunnel of love'. The preparation of these tunnels is also the shrine's way of celebrating the Tanabata festival.

Wind-chime temple

The first tunnel which is located in front of the shrine and is filled with 888 small wooden plagues written by the shrine's worshippers hanging from the wind-chimes.

Super hot day in Kawagoe but the sound of the wind-chime cools me off

It's magical how the sound of wind-chimes can be soothing

And the other love tunnel which is located inside the shrine has wooden plaques where you can write your own prayers or wishes.

The entrance to the wind-chime tunnel

At night, the shrine's river will light up and projected as the Milky Way.

Part of the Milky Way

Every month on 8th and 24th at 8.08am, Hikawa Shrine conducts its own special processions. These processions are, none other than to improve your love life and enhance your relationship.

The shrine also has a reservation-only cafe, the Musubi cafe, that serves high dining 'cafe' food. For breakfast, the limit is to 20 diners. If you have a group of more than 4 people, you will have to call and make a reservation. The website is here in Japanese.

Within the shrine grounds, you will be surrounded by numerous trees over 500 years old and it is a place where even the local people come to relax and escape the heat in the city.

These lovely ladies allowed me to take their photos ^^ and I really love their yukata!

Who can guess that the wind-chime can be this romantic?
Looks like I must buy some wind-chime as decoration at home

I must say that one of the most pleasant shrines I have been to and a great nature escape to be in especially if you are in Kawagoe.

The nearest train station to the old town in Kawagoe is Hon-Kawagoe station (accessible on Seibu Line), but there are two other railway stations, Kawagoe Station (accessible on JR and Tobu Line) and Kawagoe-shi Station (accessible on Tobu-Tojo Line). Yes, to get to Kawagoe, you can take 3 different railway companies, the Tobu-Tojo Line, the Seibu-Shinjuku Line and the JR Line.

The old town of Kawagoe is accessible with a 10-15mins walk from Hon-Kawagoe station, but from the two other railway stations, the walk is an extra of 10mins walk.

If you want to stop at the Hon-Kawagoe station, then you can use Seibu Shinjuku trains. Each journey takes about 50-60mins and the train fare is 500yen per way.

If you don't mind the extra 10mins walk and stop at Kawagoe station, then, the Tobu-Tojo Line is the fastest and with the most frequent train service to get to Kawagoe. It takes only 30mins by express train from Ikebukuro station with no train change and the train fare is 470yen per way.

From Shibuya or Shinjuku or Ikebukuro station, you can also take the direct rapid trains via Omiya on the JR Saikyo/Kawagoe Line. The whole journey takes 55mins and it is 760yen per way  (yes, you can use your Japan Rail Pass for this trip).

When you reach Kawagoe or Hon-Kawagoe station, the city can be leisurely enjoyed on foot, by bicycle or by buses. There are two bus companies that operate almost similar routes that connects all the main attractions of the city. Both bus companies sell one-day pass which offers you an unlimited ride around the city. All busses are equipped with screen with English translation.

Do you like the sound of wind-chime? 

The red lanterns of the Asakusa Temple

Do you know what is the two classic symbols of July in Japan?

One of it is the hozuki plant (the Ground Cherry Pod).

And today, I am going to introduce to you a relatively low-key but the lively event which is the Hozuki-Ichi at the Asakusa Temple.

The Japanese people, since the ancient times, have believed that performing certain acts of merit on certain special days, will be blessed with a great number of blessings. One of a certain special days is July 10 which is dedicated to the Kannon deity.

July 10, the day of 46,000 days of acts of merit
On this day, if you visited the temple dedicated to the deity, Kannon, and performed an act of merit, this act is equivalent to 46,000 days of acts of merit. This is truly one-day-only offer for the busy but religious people to make it right for their absence. Therefore, July 10th has been a popular day of worship for many Japanese people and as the Asakusa Temple is one place in Tokyo where the Kannon deity resides, many came with the intention to perform this one day act of merit.

The Hozuki plant
At the same time, on July 10th, another special event takes place, the Hozuki-Ichi or also known as the Ground Cherry Pod Fair. The reasons for the start of Hozuki-Ichi is rather fuzzy. But it has been said that the Hozuki-Ichi begun to be over 200years ago in the 17th century. It all started with an attendant who found a pot of hozuki plant while cleaning the garden. He recalled his dream from the night before that Atago Gongen, the avatar of Bodhisattva Jizo came to him and told him about the curative properties of the plant. And he was so inspired by his dream that he made an announcement to encourage people to eat the green fruit of the hozuki on June 24 (it is one of the days for performing acts of merit) to cure themselves of any health problems. Eventually, some brave souls tried and found that for some miraculous reasons, it worked! Their story spread, but it was still not the start of the Hozuki-Ichi in Asakusa Temple's precincts.

The miracle plant!

Before the vendors at the Asakusa Temple start selling the hozuki plant, they used to sell red corn. The red colour of the red corn is believed to have magical powers to ward off lightning (They must have lots of lightning strike accidents in the past to be wanting something magical to ward them off). However, due to a poor harvest, the red corn became unavailable. The vendors, trying to cope with the demand came up with the idea of selling a triangle-shaped charms on a bamboo stick. These charms became popular and after a while, the number of corn vendors slowly dwindling and gone. Perhaps still unsatisfied by the fake triangle-shaped charms, the consumers found that the red heart-shaped fruit of hozuki captivating and its ability to cure health problems, is an attractive substitute for the red corn and the fake charms. With its steady popularity, the vendors start selling the hozuki plants on July 9 and 10 and that is the start of the Hozuki-Ichi in Asakusa Temple's precincts.

The small red heart-shaped fruit is the captivator of Japanese people's heart

Nowadays, the hozuki plant is used as a house decoration for the Obon day, a day where the spirits of their ancestors return home. The hozuki fruit represents the light that guides the soul on their journey back home. Many Japanese people buy the plant while it is still green with a few red ones to take home and grow them. After a couple of weeks, the green fruit on the plant will ripen in time for the Obon.

The Hozuki-Ichi (the Ground Cherry Pod Fair) on July 9 and 10
The Hozuki Ichi is held on every year, on July 9th and 10th, at the Senso-ji Temple in Asakusa. So if you go to Asakusa Temple on July 9 or 10, you will be entertained with lively cries of hozuki vendors, feast your eyes on the red heart-shaped fruit of hozuki and perhaps, even be tempted to buy a stick or a pot of hozuki plant.

A persuasive seller

A convinced buyer

At the time of writing this post, we in Tokyo, are facing the typhoon Neoguri that could possibly do lots of damage. But as you can see here in my photos, life goes on unconcerned to another impending threat of major disaster.

I had always admired the cool-headedness in the Japanese people. This is one country that you want to be in when there is a disaster as there is no safer country than Japan!

And oh, the other symbol of July is the wind chime. Enjoy your summer!