CHICHIBU QR TRAVEL GUIDE

July 19 (Vigil) & 20 (Main Festival) / Chichibu city

The Chichibu Kawase Festival is held at Chichibu Shrine's Hinomisaki and auxilliary shrines. Descended from the Gion Festival, a festival favored during the Heian Period, it is also known as the Chichibu Gion.
The July 19 vigil is rich in pageantry with 8 flower parasols and floats zigzagging raucously to the beat of the Chichibu Yatai Hayashi accompaniment.
The next day a 400-kg portable unpainted wooden shrine is carried in procession before ritual cleansing in the clear waters of the Arakawa river.
This is a fun festival for children with children playing the musical accompaniment for the flower parasols and floats and children pulling the floats in flower-adorned hats, making for an appealing sight.