S-13 Burial mounds & Castle ruin in Saitama

Birthplace of the name of “Saitama” Prefecture, Gyoda city

Oshi Castle, which is considered one of the seven main strongholds of the Kanto region, was first built by the Narita clan in the second half of the 15th century in the Muromachi Period. Toward the end of the Warring States Period in the late 16th century, when Toyotomi Hideyoshi was nearing consolidation of power over the Kanto Region, this castle bravely withstood the “flooding attack” by Ishida Mitsunari, one of Hideyoshi’s retainers. This episode is depicted in the novel “Nobo-no-shiro”, and its screen version attracted a lot of viewers. Today, the three-story turret of the castle, “Gosankai Yagura”, houses exhibition rooms of the Gyoda City Museum, and you can enjoy a great view of the city from the top of the tower.

Sakitama Kofun Park is located in the Sakitama area in Gyoda City, which is the origin of the name of Saitama Prefecture. It consists of a group of nine large burial mounds built between the 5th and 7th century and was designated as a National Special Historic Site in 2019. Saitama Prefectural Museum of the Sakitama Ancient Burial Mounds is also in the park, and you can see some national treasures, including the “Kinsakumei Tekken”, a gold-inlaid iron sword. You can experience making “haniwa” clay figures at the House of Gyoda Haniwa.

Sakitama Shrine, which has a history of one thousand and
some hundreds of years, is filled with an atmosphere of solemn
magnificence and calmness. The name of Saitama prefecture
is derived from this shrine. The main building is located on top
of a small burial mound which is 8.7 meters high and 92 meters
in circumference. This shrine worships two deities, Sakitama-hime-no-mikoto and Sakitama-hiko-no-mikoto, who are believed to protect and bring good luck to people as well as help match making. These days, the special red-ink stamp “goshuin” of this shrine, which features the four cats living on the precinct, are especially popular. You can get the stamp during several days including the 22nd of each month.

Ancient Lotus Park
Here in Gyoda, you can enjoy the mysterious beauty of “Gyoda-hasu”, ancient lotus flowers, which have awoken from a long slumber of 2,000 years. In this park, you can see some 120,000 lotus plants of 42 types blooming all over the ponds from late June to early August. If you go up the observation tower of the Ancient Lotus Museum
on the premises between mid-July and mid-October, you can appreciate a magnificent work of “rice-paddy art” spreading over the fields. It’s a huge picture painted on the canvas of rice paddies depicting people, patterns, letters, and so on, using different kinds of rice plants.

/// FIT package

We can arrange this tour for individual, family, or the small group, following to your designated date, through the year, except Monday and yearend.

/// Itinerary

10:00 Meet at Gyoda-shi station, then guide takes you to Oshi castle. On the way, guide introduces the townscape while walking through the castle town.

At Oshi castle, also visit city museum.

Then, return to the station by walk while enjoying eating local food.

12:30 Take local bus, visit Ancient Lotus Park.
You can enjoy watching flowers (Lotus: from late June to early August) and rice-paddy art(between mid-July and mid-October).

13:49 Take local bus, visit Sakitama Shrine / Sengen-zuka Kofun (burial mound).

14:30 Visit Sakitama Kofun Park

Museum of the Sakitama Ancient Burial Mounds
Shogun-yama Kofun (burial mound) exhibition hall
walk to top of two Kofun (burial mounds), Inari-yama Kofun and Maruhaka-yama Kofun

17:10 Take local bus, return to Gyoda-shi station at 17:30, then finish the tour.

/// Price

Number of Guests	1	2	3	4-5	6 or more (Max 8)
Price / person (Yen)	71,000	37,000	26,000	20,000	21,000

Price Include:

Transportation (local bus)
English (or other languages) speaking guide
(English, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Russian, Thai)
Entrance fees described in the itinerary for guests and guide
Commission for arrangements
Commission for settlements by credit card
Consumption tax

Price Exclude:

Transportation costs to the meeting place / ending place
Accommodation costs
Food and beverage fee for customers and guide
Souvenir fee / personal expenses
Expenses for services not described in the itinerary

Regarding these standard courses, we can arrange the plan upon your request by adding / deleting destinations, and combining other courses before and after, making reservations of accommodation, transportation, restaurants, or event tickets, etc. Please contact us by all means.

Please see here for the arrangement fee.

ex.1 Arrangement for accommodation
Room charge 10,000yen(1night 1person) + Commission 1,650yen(incl. c-tax)=Total 11,650yen

ex.2 Arrangement for additional transportation
Super express train 20,000yen(1person) + Commission 3,300yen(incl. c-tax)=Total 23,300yen

/// Cancellation Policy

Cancellation Policy for this course;

Days to Departure	Cancellation Charge
More than 31 days	10,000JPY
30-15 days	50% of trip price, Min 10,000JPY
14-8 days	70% of trip price, Min 10,000JPY
7 days or Less, No Show	100% of trip price

Please refer to “Price, Terms and Conditions” for other detailed regulations.

/// Application Form

Please select the course and fill in the below box;

/// Payment

Payment can be settled by credit card (Paypal or Stripe).
After your booking, we will send you an invoice, then after your payment by credit card, the booking would be completed.

/// Contact

If you have any questions or offer to book, please send an email. We welcome even little questions! Don’t hesitate, and see you in Japan!!

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S-13 Burial mounds & Castle ruin in Saitama