There are several cities called “Koedo” in Japan. “Ko” means small and “Edo” is the old name of Tokyo. Therefore Koedo means a “small old Tokyo”.
Sawara is one of such cities and the nearest one from Narita. It takes less than 1 hour from Narita Airport by local trains.
If you have got one day free in Narita, I recommend you to visit this charming city.
Lovely Sawara Station
I will pick up several sightseeing spots for your reference.
The first one is Katori-jingu Shrine, one of the oldest and the most famous shrines in Japan. It is said to be established in 643 B.C. It is the Grand Head Shrine of approximately 400 Katori Shrines all over Japan. Even though it is located slightly far from the center of Sawara, I feel worthy enough to visit there. (It takes approximately 10 minutes from Sawara Station to Katori-jingu Shrine by taxi.)
Katori-jingu Shrine, one of the oldest and the most famous shrines in Japan
Ono River is going through the center of the old downtown. If you ride a boat to enjoy a leisurely cruise, you can see the historical landscape of Sawara from the river. Since it is just a 30 minute cruise, you can easily join it.
Leisure cruise on Ono River
Sawara has 2 Grand Festivals every year. One is Summer Festival and another is Autumn Festival. Each Festival continues 3 days and 10 (summer) or 15 (autumn) floatings are going through the streets. If you would like to see the floatings not in the festival season, you can see two of them in the Floating Museum. It was inscribled as the Intangible Cultural Heritage of UNESCO in 2016.
A floating in the Floating Museum
If you like Japanese sake, I recommend you to visit a sake brewery. You can join a factory tour as well as enjoy tasting sake.
Tokun Sake Brewery
How do you like Sawara?
If you like anything of Sawara, why don’t you visit there in your next trip to Japan!?
By Nobu