Hundreds of Samurai Riders Ride High Fukushima Pref. Festival; Soma Nomaoi Festival Attracts 35,000 Spectators on Sunday

The Yomiuri Shimbun

20:00 JST, May 26, 2025

The Soma Nomaoi festival’s main event was held on Sunday in Minamisoma, Fukushima Prefecture, where about 35,000 spectators enjoyed a scene that seemed straight from a heroic picture scroll of the Warring States period.

Nomaoi is a traditional festival in the Fukushima’s Soma region that lasts for three days. On Sunday, the second day, the Kacchu Keiba horse racing was held on a 1.2-kilometer circuit course. Mounted samurai clad in armor galloped through the circuit with their helmets off, their banners streaming behind them with mud splashed on their faces.

Starting this year, the requirement for women to be “under 20 years old and unmarried” was removed. Miwa Hosokawa, a 39-year-old woman from Minamisoma, participated in the event for the first time in 20 years. She was the winner in the Shinki Soudatsusen battle for the sacred flag, where hundreds of mounted samurai fight to capture sacred flags that are shot into the air. “I’m happy to be able to feel like a human and a horse in one,” said Hosokawa. “I am overjoyed to be able to participate in Nomaoi again.”

The last day on Monday features Nomakake, in which the participants catch bare horses with only their hands, will be held to complete the three-day event.