Chichibu Kawase Matsuri

The Chichibu Kawase Matsuri is the summer festival of Chichibu Shrine, known locally as Ogion, and belongs to Hinomisaki-gu, a sub-shrine in its grounds. It is often described as the counterpart to the winter Chichibu Yomatsuri: a daytime festival rather than a night one, a summer event rather than a winter one, and, above all, a festival for children rather than adults. Children take many of the central roles, serving as the hayashite musicians aboard the kasaboko and yatai floats and as the hyoshigi clapper-players wearing flower hats.

Origins and history

The Kawase Matsuri descends from the Gion festivals that flourished in the Heian period, spreading to the Chichibu region as Gion belief took hold. Its exact founding date is unknown, but references to the festival appear in documents dating back as far as 1659 and 1707 (Hoei 4), as well as the Bunka-Tenpo era (1804-1844). It was originally held on the fifteenth day of the sixth month under the old lunar calendar, and moved to its present July dates following the calendar reform of the Meiji period.

Saitama Prefecture designated the festival an Intangible Folk Cultural Property in 2021, and the eight floats are Chichibu City Tangible Folk Cultural Properties.

The eve festival

From the afternoon of the first day, eight decorated floats, four kasaboko and four yatai, are pulled through the streets of central Chichibu to the sound of the Chichibu yatai-bayashi music. As evening falls, the floats converge on Chichibu Shrine. There, a rite called the Tenno Hashiradate welcomes Susanoo-no-Mikoto from Hinomisaki-gu.

Late at night, young people from each district draw water from the Arakawa River and carry it back to purify their neighbourhoods, a rite known as Omizutori that precedes the mikoshi washing. Today each district holds it on its own date.

The main festival

The main day opens with morning ceremonies, after which the sacred procession sets out in the afternoon. The eight floats are joined by the shrine's mikoshi, a white-wood portable shrine weighing around 400 kilograms and carried by thirty-four young men chosen from the districts, and the procession moves from the shrine down to the Takenohana ceremonial ground on the Arakawa.

There, the portable shrine is borne into the river current for the mikoshi washing, a rite believed to wash away misfortune. After offerings such as kagura dance, the mikoshi returns to the shrine. The floats continue to be pulled through the districts into the night, with the passing manoeuvres (surechigai) and the final parting of the floats (hikiwakare) among the highlights before the festival closes.

A pair with the winter festival

At Chichibu Shrine, the mikoshi makes its procession only twice a year: at the Kawase Matsuri in summer and at the Chichibu Night Festival (Yomatsuri) in winter. The two are often seen as a matched pair. The summer festival centres on children and descends from the shrine to the river, while the winter festival centres on adults and goes from the shrine towards the mountain. According to the shrine, the symmetry of season may be mirrored in the rituals themselves.