“Matchmaking Wind Chimes”

2015/08/13

Hikawa-jinja (Shrine) in Saitama Prefecture is currently featuring eight hundred and eighty-eight colorful “Matchmaking Wind Chimes” within its precinct. With eight a lucky number in Japan, perhaps the three eights in a row promise three times greater luck to all.

Alongside the “Little Edo” area, which offers visitors a chance to travel back in time and experience a townscape reminiscent of old Japan, the Matchmaking Wind Chimes event is sure to become another summer feature of the city of Kawagoe. It is attracting overseas attention, too, with a news crew from Hong Kong visiting the shrine, and some foreign visitors as well.

Write and tie a wish on the wind chimes, or take a stroll while looking at glass wind chimes contained in bamboo baskets, and you will undoubtedly find yourself feeling like you are in old Japan.
Projected on the surface of the sacred Goshinsui water flowing in the precinct is the beautifully lit Wishes to the Milky Way imagery, so a night-time visit is also worthwhile.
Why not increase your luck in love and life while experiencing Japan this summer at Hikawa-jinja Shrine’s Matchmaking Wind Chimes event?

[Location]
Kawagoe Hikawa-jinja Shrine
Address: 2-11-3 Miyashita-machi, Kawagoe-shi, Saitama Prefecture
Phone: 049-224-0589
Lit up at night between July 4 and August 31, with gates open daily until 9:00 p.m.

・Wind chime corridor: Open from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Visitors enter the shrine precinct while walking under innumerable colorful wind chimes in 11 hues.

・Prayer strips for writing down your wish
Visitors can write their wishes on rectangular strips of wood, which are then tied on to wind chimes.

・Imagery projection on Goshinsui sacred waters: From 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Imagery titled Wishes to the Milky Way is projected on to the surface of the sacred water running through the shrine precinct.

It expresses the ties between Orihime and Hikoboshi, the weaver and the cowherd, the two stars separated by the Milky Way with the exception of July 7th, the day of the Tanabata Star Festival. The imagery also symbolizes the Milky Way descended upon Earth.

・Bamboo baskets with wind chimes: Open from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.
This is a beautiful sight that is a combination of trees, bamboo baskets and wind chimes, accentuated by light and shadow.

・Wind chime alley: Open from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.
The wind chimes here are of clear glass and the rectangular strips within are decorated with the shrine crest.