Saitama
埼玉県
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What to know about Saitama
Though it neighbors Tokyo, Saitama Prefecture reveals a remarkably diverse character — from Edo-period castle towns and ancient burial mounds dating to the Kofun era, to gorges and mountain landscapes. Within just thirty minutes to an hour and a half by train from central Tokyo, historical walks, nature experiences, and traditional culture converge across a compact area. The prefecture is also home to cultural assets recognized on the world stage, including a festival and handmade washi papermaking technique inscribed on UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list.
The Kurazukuri Townscape of Kawagoe
Along Ichibangai street in Kawagoe, roughly thirty kurazukuri merchant warehouses stand in a row, built from the late Edo period through the Meiji era. Their imposing walls of black plaster were designed as fireproof construction to guard against blazes, preserving a rare glimpse of Edo-era townhouses that can no longer be found in modern-day Tokyo. The district was designated a National Important Preservation District for Groups of Traditional Buildings in 1999.
Rising above the streetscape is the Toki no Kane, a bell tower said to have been originally built around four hundred years ago by Sakai Tadakatsu, lord of the Kawagoe domain. The current structure is the fourth generation of the tower, and locals still recount the spirit of the merchants who, in the aftermath of the Great Kawagoe Fire of 1893, chose to rebuild the bell tower before their own shops. Standing sixteen meters tall with three tiers, it continues to ring four times a day across the warehouse district, earning a place on the Ministry of the Environment’s list of 100 Soundscapes of Japan. Nearby, Kashiya Yokochō (Penny Candy Alley) is home to around twenty shops selling mint candies, sweet potato confections, and other old-fashioned treats, preserving the atmosphere of a traditional dagashiya sweets lane.
The Chichibu Night Festival and Mitsumine Shrine
Held every year on December 2nd and 3rd, the grand festival of Chichibu Shrine ranks among Japan’s three great float festivals alongside Kyoto’s Gion Festival and Hida’s Takayama Festival. Two kasaboko canopy floats and four yatai festival floats, assembled using traditional joinery without a single nail, parade through the town on a winter night in a truly spectacular procession. The sight of the lantern-lit floats set against fireworks bursting in the cold night sky is nothing short of breathtaking, and the festival was inscribed on UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2016.
About an hour’s drive from central Chichibu into the mountains of Okuchichibu, Mitsumine Shrine sits atop a peak at roughly 1,100 meters above sea level. Renowned as one of the Kantō region’s foremost spiritual power spots, it is said to have been founded by Yamato Takeru during his eastern campaign. Beyond the distinctive mitsutorii, a rare triple-columned torii gate, a tranquil precinct unfolds beneath towering cryptomeria trees. The early morning view, when the shrine is enveloped in a sea of clouds, is otherworldly.
The Rock Terraces of Nagatoro Gorge
A five-minute walk from Nagatoro Station on the Chichibu Railway, the iwadatami rock terraces stretch roughly fifty meters wide and six hundred meters long along the Arakawa River — a massive outcrop of crystalline schist. These rocks were carried some twenty to thirty kilometers below the earth’s surface along a tectonic plate around 85 million years ago, where intense pressure transformed them into Sambagawa Belt metamorphic rock before the slow forces of geology brought them to the surface. Designated a National Place of Scenic Beauty and Natural Monument in 1924, the site is also called the birthplace of Japanese geology, after the German geologist Naumann conducted surveys here during the Meiji era.
Across the river, a cliff face roughly one hundred meters high and five hundred meters long bears the name Chichibu Sekiheki (Chichibu Red Wall), its striking red hue the result of oxidized iron within the rock. On the Arakawa River boat ride, passengers can take in the scenery of the rock terraces and Red Wall from the water while watching the boatmen skillfully navigate with long poles.
The Sakitama Burial Mounds and the National Treasure Kinsakumei Tekken
Sakitama Kofun Park in Gyōda preserves a cluster of ancient burial mounds constructed between the late fifth and seventh centuries, including eight keyhole-shaped mounds and one large circular mound. Maruhakayama Kofun, with a diameter of 105 meters, is considered one of the largest circular burial mounds in Japan, and the view from its summit offers a sweeping panorama of the surrounding rice fields. In spring, cherry blossoms encircle the mound, making it a beloved spot for hanami flower viewing.
The artifact that established the scholarly significance of this burial mound cluster is the Kinsakumei Tekken, a gold-inlaid inscribed iron sword unearthed from Inariyama Kofun in 1968. The 115 characters of gold-inlaid inscription across both sides represent an unrivaled number for a Kofun-period blade, and the discovery was hailed as a once-in-a-century find. The adjacent Sakitama Museum of History and Folklore displays the actual sword along with other burial goods, offering visitors a tangible connection to the ties between the eastern provinces and the Yamato court fifteen hundred years ago.
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Location
Where is Saitama?
Saitama Prefecture is a landlocked prefecture situated in the central part of the Kantō region, with Saitama City serving as its capital. Based on the Basic Resident Register as of January 2025, the prefecture's population stands at approximately 7.37 million, ranking fifth nationwide. It follows Tokyo, Kanagawa, Osaka, and Aichi in scale, making it the most populous landlocked prefecture in Japan. Saitama City also holds the distinction of being the only government-designated major city among all inland prefectures.
The eastern side of the prefecture is dominated by the Kantō Plain, with plateaus and lowlands together accounting for roughly 61% of the total land area. Only three prefectures across the entire country have such a high proportion of flat terrain. To the west, the Chichibu Mountains rise dramatically, with the highest peak, Mount Sanbō, reaching 2,483 meters. Major rivers including the Tone, Ara, and Edo flow through the prefecture, and near Kōnosu City the Arakawa River spans 2,537 meters across — the widest river channel in Japan. Though Saitama has no coastline, it is the bounty of water and land that has shaped the prefecture's character.
The climate falls under the Pacific side pattern, with strong northwesterly seasonal winds in winter bringing clear skies and dry air. Summers tend toward the intense heat characteristic of inland areas; on July 23, 2018, the city of Kumagaya recorded 41.1°C, the highest temperature ever observed in Japan. The Chichibu region in the west experiences sharp temperature swings typical of basin terrain, and snowfall of around 30 cm is not uncommon in winter when low-pressure systems pass along the southern coast.
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Getting to Saitama
The main gateway to Saitama Prefecture is Ōmiya Station. From Tokyo Station, it takes approximately 30 minutes via the JR Ueno-Tokyo Line or the Shōnan-Shinjuku Line, or about 25 minutes aboard the Tōhoku, Jōetsu, or Hokuriku Shinkansen. From Haneda Airport, limousine buses reach Ōmiya Station in around 1 hour and 30 minutes, while from Narita Airport, connecting via the JR Narita Express and Shinkansen takes roughly 2 hours.
The prefecture's rail network is extensive. In addition to the various JR lines, private railways such as the Tōbu Tōjō Line, Seibu Ikebukuro Line, Saitama Railway, and Tsukuba Express connect central Tokyo with destinations throughout the prefecture. Kawagoe is about 30 minutes from Ikebukuro Station by Tōbu Tōjō Line express. For the Chichibu area, the Seibu limited express from Ikebukuro takes approximately 80 minutes, and transferring to the Chichibu Railway provides access to Nagatoro and the Mitsumine-jinja Shrine area.
Public transportation is more than sufficient for getting around the urban areas, but renting a car is convenient for efficiently visiting mountain areas in Chichibu or tourist spots in the northern part of the prefecture. Road icing can be a concern when heading toward Chichibu during the winter months.
Local pride
Specialty Products
Saitama Prefecture has long thrived as an agricultural region, blessed with the fertile soil of the Kantō Plain and a temperate climate. Its extensive flatlands and proximity to the massive consumer market of the Tokyo metropolitan area have fostered suburban farming, with several root vegetables and leafy greens ranking among the top nationwide in shipment volume. Wheat cultivation took root on the Musashino Plateau centuries ago, and a flour-based food culture centered on udon noodles remains alive and well today. In the hilly areas to the west, tea cultivation has continued for generations, with the cold climate producing thick tea leaves prized for their distinctive flavor. The tradition of craftsmanship also runs deep here — regions endowed with quality paulownia wood and pure water have passed down the arts of doll-making and handmade washi paper through the centuries.
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Through the ages
History of Saitama
Most of present-day Saitama Prefecture once belonged to Musashi Province. In ancient times, Musashi was a vast domain spanning all of what is now Saitama, Tokyo, and eastern Kanagawa, and it was classified as a "great province" under the ritsuryō system. The Sakitama Kofun Cluster in Gyōda City is a dense concentration of large burial mounds constructed between the 5th and 7th centuries. An iron sword with gold-inlaid inscriptions bearing 115 characters was unearthed from the Inariyama Kofun, and the name Wakatakeru Ōkimi inscribed on it has been identified as Emperor Yūryaku — a primary historical source confirming that Yamato court influence had already reached the Kantō region by the latter half of the 5th century. In 2020, this kofun cluster was designated as Saitama Prefecture's first Special Historic Site.
During the Sengoku period, the Later Hōjō clan controlled much of Musashi Province, and Kawagoe Castle and Oshi Castle were developed as military strongholds. When Toyotomi Hideyoshi launched the siege of Odawara in 1590, Oshi Castle famously withstood Ishida Mitsunari's water attack — an episode later immortalized in the novel Nobō no Shiro (The Floating Castle). After Tokugawa Ieyasu's entry into the Kantō region, the Kawagoe domain was successively entrusted to senior shogunate retainers beginning with the Sakai clan. Matsudaira Nobutsuna, known by the epithet "the Izu of Wisdom," oversaw a major reconstruction of the castle and spearheaded the construction of the Tamagawa Aqueduct. River transport along the Shingashi River connected Kawagoe to Edo, and the town flourished to such a degree that it earned the nickname "Little Edo."
With the abolition of the domain system in 1871, several prefectures — including Kawagoe, Oshi, and Iwatsuki — were established across northern Musashi. On November 14 of that same year, these were consolidated to form Saitama Prefecture. The prefecture's name was taken from Saitama District, to which Iwatsuki — the originally planned site for the prefectural capital — belonged. The place name Saitama itself traces back even further to Sakitama, an area near the Sakitama Kofun Cluster in Gyōda City, and the characters for "Saitama" already appeared in documents from the Nara period. Because no suitable building could be found in Iwatsuki, the prefectural capital was placed in Urawa instead, and in 1876 the territory of the former Iruma Prefecture was incorporated to establish the prefecture's present-day borders.
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