No. 23 Visiting Soma Nomaoi

(published September 15, 2013 issue of Koho Inagi)

　Inagi City has continued to dispatch staff for a long period of time to support reconstruction efforts in Soma City, Fukushima Prefecture, and since April 2013 has dispatched new staff to replace the predecessor.
Having received an invitation from Mayor Tachiya to participate in the Soma Nomaoi, I visited Soma City from July 27 to 28, 2013 to encourage the dispatched staff.
About 1,000 years ago, Taira no Kojiro Masakado, the founder of the Soma family, established Soma Mikuriya (currently Toride City and Moriya City in Ibaraki Prefecture, Kashiwa City, Nagareyama City and Abiko in Chiba Prefecture). When I was in the government office of a large manor that spans the city, I thought about using horses as a new military force. Wild horses were grazed in Koganegahara, Katsushika County, Shimousa Province (near present-day Nagareyama City, Chiba Prefecture), soldiers from eight northern Kanto countries were gathered, and the wild horses were likened to enemy soldiers and chased after them. I had military training to capture. It is said that the horses that were captured were offered to the gods and held as a Myoken festival.
After that, in 1323, the Soma clan moved to Namegata-gun, Oshu (present-day Minamisoma City), and the successive generations of Soma lords continued until the Meiji Restoration.
On the morning of the second day of the festival, approximately 500 horse-riding warriors enter the public road in a procession toward the Hibarigahara festival grounds. The sight of each participant dressed in armor handed down from their ancestors is a sight to behold, and the procession is truly worthy of being designated as a nationally designated important intangible folk cultural asset.
After entering the shrine, the “Kacchu Horse Racing” and the “Divine Flag Scramble” were held.
It was a visit to experience the depth of traditional Japanese culture, as well as being surprised that the Matsuei, a descendant of the Soma family, still serves as the general manager and that the event has been passed down for over 1,000 years.
This festival was canceled in the year of the Great East Japan Earthquake, and after being scaled back last year, it was fully resumed this year. Inagi City is proud to be able to support Soma City, which has such a long history, and I would like to thank the citizens and staff for their support.