Kawajima Town

A river-ringed island, guarded by levees.

Kawajima ring levee

Photo by 京浜にけ at Japanese Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 3.0)

01 ／ The great ring levee

A lowland ringed by rivers,walled all round by a levee.

The town is bounded by the Ichino and Toki rivers to the north, the Arakawa to the east, the Iruma to the south and the Oppe to the west, and calls itself "an island surrounded by rivers". In the Keichō era Ina Tadatsugu enlarged small existing ring levees into the Kawajima-ryō Ōkakoi-zutsumi (川島領大囲堤, the great ring levee of Kawajima), which Matsudaira Nobutsuna later raised. Part of today's river embankment is built on it.

Rivers on all four sides
Great ring levee built in the Keichō era
The base of today's embankment

02 ／ Swans

In winter, swans come downto the Oppe River.

Every year from late November to early March, swans settle on the riverbed of the Oppe River, which runs along the west of town. They are easiest to see early in the morning and in the late afternoon; during the day they fly off to feed. The town posts the count every few days with photos, and its swan photo contest has now been held ten times.

Late November to early March
Best at dawn and dusk
Ten photo contests

03 ／ The Tōyama residence

A securities founder's house,built for his mother.

Tōyama Gen'ichi, founder of Nikko Securities, restored the fortunes of the family home that had fallen into ruin in his childhood, and built a mansion here in his home village for the mother who had struggled to raise him. It took two years and seven months from 1933. With a thatched east wing, a central wing with Western-style rooms and a sukiya-style west wing, it was designated an Important Cultural Property in 2018.

Two years and seven months to build
Important Cultural Property, 2018
Thatch, Western rooms and sukiya

Living here

No station; 7 minutes from the Ken-O Expressway.

about 20,000 people
Rural district town

There is no railway station in town. The town points visitors to Tobu Bus services for Kōnosu Station West Exit or the Kōnosu driving licence centre from Kawagoe Station on the Tobu Tojo Line; from the Yatsubayashi (Kawajima Town Office entrance) stop (八ツ林（川島町役場入口）) it is a 20-minute walk to the town office. By car, the town office is 7 minutes from Kawajima IC on the Ken-O Expressway, inside the town, and 15 minutes from Higashi-Matsuyama IC on the Kan-Etsu Expressway.

People living here: 19,378people
Area: 41.63km²
Households: 7,269households
Rent (average for rentals): 36,031yen
Healthcare: 1 hospital ／ 13 clinics

Area and habitable land at the same scalee-Stat B1101 / B1103

Children waiting for childcare: —2 nurseries and similar
Home purchase subsidy: —
Average annual temperature: —

These 3 items are waiting on a nationwide data source. We do not fill them with estimates.

Shape

Surrounded by 7 municipalities, and almost entirely flat.

Kawajima Town in Japan35.982°N 139.482°E

Territory of Kawajima Town

Boundaries: National Land Numerical Information (N03)

North to south

8.0km

川越市, 坂戸市, 桶川市, 東松山市, 吉見町, 北本市, 上尾市

Travel times per leg are not published by the municipality, so they are not shown.

Kawajima Town isthis kind of town.

01The Edo-era great ring levee of Kawajima encloses a lowland surrounded by rivers on all four sides, and underlies today's embankments
02In winter, swans come to the riverbed of the Oppe River on the west of town, and can be seen at dawn and dusk
03The house that Nikko Securities founder Tōyama Gen'ichi built for his mother is open to the public as an Important Cultural Property

See the town as it is now.

X@kawajima_kawabe ↗

Source: Wikidata (P2002, P2003, P2013, P2397)

If something caught your eye, ask the town itself.

Kawajima Town official site ↗Wikipedia ↗