Toki no Kane (Bell of Time), Saitama

Kawagoe's symbol, a bell tower above streets of storehouse-style shops. It has told the time since the Edo period and still rings four times a day.

Toki no Kane bell tower seen from the street in Kawagoe's old town under a blue sky — Photo: ardosa, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The passage beneath the Toki no Kane bell tower leading to Yakushi Shrine in Kawagoe — Photo: Aimaimyi, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

A bell that has told the town the time for about 400 years

Toki no Kane (Bell of Time) is a wooden shoro (a structure built to hang and ring a bell) standing among the storehouse-style streets of Kawagoe in Saitama Prefecture. Since the early Edo period, its bell has told the people of the castle town what time it was.

It was first built in the early Edo period, during the Kan'ei era (1624 to 1644), reportedly by Sakai Tadakatsu, then lord of Kawagoe Castle. Since then it has burned down in fires and been rebuilt many times.

The current tower was rebuilt in the year after the Great Kawagoe Fire of 1893 (the 26th year of the Meiji era). That fire destroyed a third of the town, and it is said that Kawagoe's merchants rebuilt the bell tower, which announced the time everyone's daily life depended on, before their own shops. Shaped like a three-tiered yagura (tower), it is about 16 m tall and is designated a Tangible Cultural Property of Kawagoe City.

The bell rings four times a day

The bell still rings four times a day, at 6 am, noon, 3 pm and 6 pm, struck by an automatic bell-ringing machine. In 1996 (the 8th year of the Heisei era) its sound was chosen by what was then the Environment Agency as one of the 100 Soundscapes of Japan to Be Preserved. If you time it right and wait nearby, you can hear it ring for yourself.

Walk through the passage beneath the bell tower and you reach Yakushi Shrine. It enshrines Yakushi Nyorai (the Medicine Buddha, believed to heal illness), and it is said to be especially good for eye ailments.

Pair it with Ichibangai, the storehouse street

Toki no Kane is just off Ichibangai, a street lined with kurazukuri merchant houses built in the storehouse style, with black plaster walls and heavy roofs. The area has been selected as a national Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings (districts the national government chooses to protect historic streetscapes).

To get there, walk about 15 minutes from Hon-Kawagoe Station on the Seibu Shinjuku Line. From Kawagoe Station (JR and Tobu Tojo Line), take a bus that runs through the storehouse district, get off at the Ichibangai stop and walk about two minutes.

Tips

The bell rings at 6 am, noon, 3 pm and 6 pm. Aim for noon or 3 pm and you can hear it in the middle of your walk around town.
Stop by Yakushi Shrine too, which you reach by passing under the bell tower.
Kashiya Yokocho (Penny Candy Alley) and Kawagoe Hikawa Shrine are both within walking distance.