Kawagoe Hikawa Shrine needs little introduction within Japan. Even internationally, if you don't know the shrine by name, you might recognize it from photos of the annual wind chime event at the shrine that have gone 'viral' thousands of times over. But what you might not know unless you are a local, is that before the summer wind chime event, there is an equally photogenic pinwheel display at the shrine.
For the month of June, Kawagoe Hikawa Shrine displays approximately 2000 pinwheels at the shrine. Most years the main display of 888 pinwheels in a tunnel are blue and white. There are 888 as in Japan the number is considered to be lucky in love. In 2021, they added a new area in front of the main stone gate to the shrine. The pinwheels in this area are cream and white. In the past, for special occasions they had other colors. For example, in celebration of the Emperor's ascension to the throne in 2019 they had red and white pinwheels.
