Hanabi - Cascadian Abroad

Tradition trumping modernity brings me great joy. For more than 300 years, the Chichibu Yomatsuri (Night Festival) has been held annually on December 2 and 3. It doesn’t matter if those days fall on the weekend or, as they were this year, Wednesday and Thursday.

The midweek schedule didn’t stop visitors flocking from Tokyo and beyond out to the small town in the foothills of the Okuchichibu Mountains. The festival is considered one of Japan’s three great float festivals alongside those in the cultural titans of Kyoto and Nara.

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Special Chichibu Yomatsuri sake with one bottle already in the sake-dispensing machine

Various dumpling (gyoza) soups—from left to right, chicken carcass soup, red miso/hot pepper soup and clear soup made from pork broth

Grilled rice cakes (yaki onigiri) on a stick

Just a few of the dozens of food vendors lined up around Chichibu Station — Just a few of the dozens of food vendors lined up around Seibu Chichibu Station

Omusoba, an egg omelette wrapped around yakisoba noodles and topped with an egg, ketchup and mayonaisse. Delicious!

Cheese is wrapped inside a piece of rice paper and deep fried. Yeah, it's as good as it sounds. — Cheese is wrapped inside a piece of rice paper and deep fried. Yeah, it’s as good as it sounds.

The best part about night festivals is that they start around dinner time, so it’s a great excuse to pig out on festival food. There’s a lot of festival standards, but each town also has its own unique festival foods. In Chichibu, we saw a variety of dumpling soups and omusoba, which is an egg omelette wrapped around yakisoba noodles and topped with a sunny-side-up egg, ketchup and mayonaisse. It was kind of amazing.

December 3 is the main day of the festival. The parade features floats carried from Chichibu Shrine to the city hall where they’re displayed and used as stages for kabuki performances.

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At the intersection near Ohanabatake Station, the floats are rotated in the shape of the の ("no") character in a performance called nonoji mawashi ("turned in the shape of no"). — At the intersection near Ohanabatake Station, the floats are rotated in the shape of the の (“no”) character in a performance called nonoji mawashi (“turned in the shape of no”).

The opening procession features lanterns painted with the names of the Chichibu neighborhoods the carrier represents.

The massive yatai (ornate float) is pushed and pulled through the Nakamachi district

The float is lifted and turned, angling the 20-ton float in ways that make it appear as if it will tumble over.

A man sitting atop the float while it's leaning to and fro... — A man sitting atop the float while it’s leaning to and fro…

The float jacked up, listing waaaaay forward.

Large wooden pillars are used to raise the float while it's rotated during the nonoji-mawashi performance. — Large wooden pillars are used to raise the float while it’s rotated during the nonoji-mawashi performance.

The float parade is lively with a group of young people leading the way with chants of “Ho-ryai!” (“Hooray!”). The massive float follows behind, performers waving lanterns on the stage built into the front and others hanging from the top, at least 20-feet above the ground.

Read an interesting perspective on the building of the floats at Sonic-Yoshi

The ornate floats, called “yatai,” are built using Japanese elm wood and weigh as much as 20 tons. They move slowly through the streets until they reach the intersection near Ohanabatake Station. Here they perform a ceremonial turning of the float called nonoji-mawashi, or “Turning in the Shape of No.” In this case, “no” is the character の.

The danger is palpable; the gasps from the crowd audible. It takes a dozen people using long wooden pillars to lift the end of the float enough that someone can crawl underneath and rearrange the direction of the wheels. Dozens more push the behemoth into its の-shaped turn. All the while, the float lists, leans and wobbles like a disaster waiting to happen.

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Before, during and after the parade, the sky lights up with hundreds of fireworks. Hanabi (firework viewing) is usually a summertime event, so the show in Chichibu is unique in December. It also gave us an opportunity to try out the “Fireworks” setting on our camera, capturing some fun shots.

I find myself running out of superlatives for the things we’re so fortunate to experience in Japan. Chichibu is one of our favorite places in Japan (see here and here and here) and it just received another tick in the plus column.

Video: Chichibu Night Festival

It’s always interesting returning home after a long trip. Everything is familiar, but everything seems different at the same time. While we were away from Japan, summer turned to fall. The kinmokusei has begun to bloom, filling the air with a light citrus scent. But Japan’s ability to surprise us never seems to change.

A few nights ago, we heard some activity in front of our apartment. It was already dark and the noise of kids playing was unusual. Viktoria poked her head out the window to see what was happening and spotted our neighbors from the next building.

The boy is one of our favorite kids in the neighborhood. He’s really respectful and always says hello when we see him. One day Viktoria gave him some candy she brought back from the U.S. A couple minutes later, he rang the doorbell, holding a bag of Japanese cookies—the obligatory reciprocal gift.

His mom is great too. The first time we really talked to her was when she rang our doorbell as a member of the neighborhood association. She had come to collect the annual dues (about $5 USD) and had taken the time to prepare a receipt in English along with a few phrases to help us understand what services are supported with the funds. A couple months later, she eased my fears about the announcement being belted out of a helicopter flying overhead (not an impending zombie apocalypse, just an advertisement).

Me and the neighbor kid... his mom probably has the picture where we're looking straight ahead! — Me and the neighbor kid… his mom probably has the picture where we’re looking straight ahead!

Anyway, when they saw Viktoria, they waved us downstairs. They had enough fireworks to outdo Washington D.C.’s Fourth of July show! We asked what the occasion was and they said it was a holiday, but despite all my research and even some crowdsourcing, I have no idea what they were celebrating.

Viktoria, one of the friends and our neighbor light yet another sparkler... — Viktoria, one of the friends and our neighbor light yet another sparkler…

A couple of his classmates and someone’s little brother were also there with their mothers. Our neighbor kid was the Master of Ceremonies for the evening, making sure everyone had a sparkler in hand at all times. I bet we each burned a dozen sparklers apiece.

They sang a little song all night that went “ha-na-bi no chi-ka-ra,” meaning something along the lines of “the power of fireworks,” but they sang it in a sweet voice that made it seem like a bit of an inside joke.

At the end of the night, they handed out some candy. Viktoria ran upstairs and grabbed some Halloween candy we’d just bought—you know, reciprocal! We went back upstairs with a “what just happened” feeling, but also happy to be included in what seemed to be an end-of-summer tradition.

Here’s a few more photos from the evening. Enjoy!