Soma Nomaoi — A Japanese Festival of Traditional Samurai Horsemanship

Adam Oltman Porcher is a New Jersey professional who attended Mercer County Community College in West Windsor, NJ, where he studied computer science. Currently learning Japanese, Adam Porcher has a strong interest in the country’s culture and history.

One interesting aspect of contemporary Japan is that many remnants of traditional culture, from Kabuki drama to sumo, continue up to the present. In the Haranomachi coastal region of Fukushima Prefecture, the samurai legacy is still alive and celebrated in the three-day Soma Nomaoi event. Reflecting 1,000 years of tradition, this Shinto festival features breathtaking displays of samurai horsemanship that are said to derive from warrior exercises of the 10th century under Taira Masakado.

The roots of these practices go back to the old Soma-Nakamura castle, which was maintained by the Soma clan within the Tokugawa shogunate until the early 17th century. The festival honors that legacy, with the current Soma clan head distinguished by the red silk horo placed behind him on his steed. This medieval device was designed to protect mounted horsemen from arrows shot by pursuers.

As the festivities progress, participants take part in horse races dressed in full samurai armor and with nobori-bata flags on their backs. Another anticipated event is the Shinki Soudatsusen, in which sacred banners from area shrines are shot into the air and mounted samurai scramble, trying to hook these banners with wooden batons as they drift to the ground. Another traditional highlight is a “wild horse chase” that involves the release of riderless horses along a route to the Osaka shrine. When they finally reach the shrine enclosure, the horses are caught by men in ceremonial white Shinto garb and bridled with sacred ropes, before being presented to the shrine’s patron deity.