Festival Hall

The same day we went to the tea ceremony, we also visited the Chichibu Festival Hall.  This is a place dedicated to the Chichibu night festival.  The special thing about this festival is the festival floats which are made in the old Japanese style.  There are only two other cities that have festivals/floats like this.  Each Float is over 2 million dollars to make and takes an expert craftsman over 2 years.  When the floats are stored, all the pieces come off so that the only thing left is the under carriage.  Because the wheels do not pivot, when the float has to be turned they put a wooden peg in the middle underneath the float.  This peg allows the whole float to be turned, and then the peg is removed and they can move in the new direction.  The floats are very big and often Kabuki (Japanese traditional plays) would be acted out on them while they go through the crowds.  At the hall, two of the floats were displayed, although I believe that they have 8 more for the parade.

First float, they are 2 stories tall

2nd float, the people an the ground would pull the float with the ropes and hand holders.

Note the men riding on the roof

1st float - Each float is extremely detailed

2nd float

1st float - everything is hand crafted and disassembled after the parade

You can see the little stage of the 2nd float were they would preform Kabuki

First float, I believe the emperor and empress characters would sit on this one.