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In the Edo Period, Japanese cities consisted almost exclusively of wooden buildings. As a result, they were very vulnerable to fires, which occurred frequently and could destroy whole city districts.
To store and protect their most valuable goods like rice, people constructed warehouses (kura) with massive, fireproof walls, consisting of several layers. However, this construction style, called kura-zukuri (warehouse style), was very expensive, and only the wealthy people could afford it.
During the Edo Period, Kawagoe was an important commercial town, providing nearby Edo (Tokyo) with timber, rice and other materials, collected from the surrounding region.
Thanks to this prosperous trade, the merchants of Kawagoe grew very wealthy, and many of them could afford to build not only their warehouses, but also their stores in the fireproof kurazukuri style.
In the old times, there were more than 200 kurazukuri buildings in Kawagoe. A few dozens remain today, with most of them lining the town's main street, a 15 minute walk north of Hon-Kawagoe Station.
Many of the old kurazukuri buildings are now housing stores and restaurants. One of them, the Kurazukuri Shiryokan, has been converted into a small museum.
Kawagoe's landmark, the Bell Tower (toki no kane), stands nearby.
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