昨年ユネスコの無形文化遺産に登録された秩父神社の例大祭「秩父夜祭」が本祭を迎え、豪華絢爛な山車が花火とともに夜空を彩った＝３日午後、埼玉県秩父市（宮崎瑞穂撮影）
Galileo Ferrari - Tokyo
The Chichibu Night Festival took place on December 3rd in Saitama’s Chichibu city, approximately 90 minutes north of central Tokyo.
Starting from the Chichibu Shrine, men and women dressed in happi (traditional festival clothing) paraded four gorgeous and exquisite floats and two kasaboko (a float with willow-like fronds descending in a giant umbrella shape), decorated with paper-covered lanterns.
Amid energetic voices of celebration, the festival reached its climax when about 6,500 fireworks filled the winter night’s sky with beautiful colors.
The Chichibu Night Festival dates back some 300 years ago. In 2016, it was registered as an Intangible Cultural Heritage with UNESCO.
It is among the three biggest float parade festivals in Japan, the other two being Kyoto’s Gion Festival and Hida Takayama Festival.
