Chichibu Night Festival 2026: extra Laview expresses and a steam train on 3 December

The Chichibu Night Festival (Chichibu Yomatsuri) fills the mountain town of Chichibu with lantern-covered floats every winter. In 2026 the eve is Wednesday 2 December and the main festival day is Thursday 3 December, and both railways into town are adding trains.

Seibu Railway will add limited expresses from Ikebukuro to Seibu-Chichibu from the 11 o'clock hour on 3 December, so that one leaves roughly every 30 minutes. For the trip home it adds extra limited expresses and local trains out of Seibu-Chichibu, and runs a special timetable between Hanno and Seibu-Chichibu. On the eve, one evening limited express will start at Seibu-Chichibu instead of Hanno.

Chichibu Railway is running the SL Chichibu Hikiyama Yomatsuri-go, a one-way steam train on 3 December. It leaves Gyodashi at 15:23, calls at Kumagaya (dep. 15:43), Yorii, Nagatoro and other stations, and arrives at Chichibu at 17:55. The locomotive is the C58 363 with four 12-series coaches; the railway notes an electric locomotive may stand in.

During the evening, Chichibu Railway trains between Chichibu and Kagemori stop for about three hours (around 19:30–22:30) while overhead wires are taken down to let the floats cross the tracks.