The Chichibu Night Festival (秩父夜祭, Chichibu Yomatsuri) is the festival of Chichibu Shrine in Chichibu, just 90 minutes from central Tokyo. It is held every year on December 2 and 3, with the main action taking place on December 3. The Chichibu Night Festival is considered one of Japan's top three festivals to feature floats, the others being Kyoto's Gion Matsuri and the Takayama Matsuri. Its floats are ornately decorated with lanterns, tapestries and gilded wood carvings and are accompanied by drum and flute music.
The festival's other attraction is its fireworks display, which lasts almost two and a half hours and gives you the rare opportunity to enjoy Japanese fireworks during winter. Additionally, the streets are lined with stands selling festival foods and amazake (sweet rice wine) to combat the cold December night. The main events of the Chichibu Festival take place on December 3. In the afternoon and early evening, the six floats are displayed in their respective neighborhoods and at Chichibu Shrine, before they are being pulled through the streets of Chichibu towards the city hall from around 18:00.
The climax takes place on the plaza in front of the city hall, when one float after the other is pulled up the slope onto the plaza and they all line up. From 19:30 to 22:00 a long, spread out fireworks display is held, which can be seen from many places around town. The main action of the festival ends around 22:00, allowing festival goers to catch the last trains back into Tokyo. The town of Chichibu itself has only limited accommodation options.
Due to the festival's popularity, it gets very crowded, especially along the parade route and around the plaza in front of the city hall. For good views of the action on the plaza, it is advised to get there very early to secure a spot, reserve seats in advance or content yourself with viewing it on the big screen in front of Seibu Chichibu Station.
For those that are unable to get to the festival, the Chichibu Festival Hall adjacent to Chichibu Shrine gives a taster of the Night Festival and other festivals in the Chichibu region.
Getting there and around
The Chichibu Night Festival takes place in central Chichibu, just outside Chichibu and Seibu-Chichibu stations. Seibu Railway and Chichibu Railway are running additional trains on December 3. The last trains back into Tokyo are all-reserved limited express trains by Seibu.
How to get to and around Chichibu
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Links and Resources
