Dating back to the mid-15th century, the castle town of Kawagoe, during the Edo period (1603-1867), had been under the reign of powerful feudal lords as a vital defense point for Edo. While most of the castle structures were dismantled during the Meiji period (late 19th century), the stately entrance and main hall of Honmaru Goten, built in 1848, have survived. Within hailing distance is the City Museum designed to introduce virtually everything about Kawagoe through valuable artifacts, exhibits, scale models and audio-visual presentations.

Kurazukuri --- or warehouse-style architecture --- was developed for merchants in old Edo to create fireproof structures able to survive conflagrations which often left neighboring wooden structures in ashes. In Kawagoe, merchants once vied in lively competition with each other to build kurazukuri houses. Today some 30 such houses, including the Osawa Family House (a nationally designated Cultural Treasure), can be found in this neighborhood. With the Bell Tower soaring t its center and the nostalgic Candy Store Alley nearby, the area exudes the atmosphere of a downtown Edo-period district.

A renowned Buddhist temple dating back to 830. Kita'in regained its splendor by virtue of Archbishop Tenkai who enjoyed the full confidence of the first three Tokugawa shoguns in the early 17th century. It was mostly destroyed by fire in 1638, but was soon restored by order of the third shogun Iemitsu. At that time, the room in which he was born and the dressing room of his nurse, Kasuga-no-tsubone, were transferred here from Edo. Both are nationally designated Culutural Treasures. About 540 stone images of Buddha's disciples (the Gohyaku-rakan), each with a different countenance, can be found within the temple grounds.