No.23 Visit to the Soma Nomaoi

(Inagi Newsletter September 15, 2013 issue)

Inagi City continues to send staff on long-term assignments to support the reconstruction of Soma City in Fukushima Prefecture, and since April 2013, new staff have been dispatched to replace their predecessors.
Receiving an invitation to the Soma Nomaoi from Mayor Tachiya, I visited Soma City from July 27 to 28, 2013, to encourage the dispatched staff.
The founder of the Soma family, Taira no Kojiro Masakado, considered the use of horses as a new military force about 1,000 years ago while he held an official position in the vast estate of Soma Mikuriya (currently spanning Toride City and Moriya City in Ibaraki Prefecture, and Kashiwa City, Nagareyama City, and Abiko City in Chiba Prefecture). He pastured wild horses in Koganehara, Katsushika District, Shimousa Province (near present-day Nagareyama City in Chiba Prefecture), gathered soldiers from eight provinces in northern Kanto, and conducted military training by chasing the wild horses, treating them as enemy soldiers. It is said that the captured horses were offered before the gods, marking the beginning of the Myoken festival.
Later, in the third year of Genkyo (1323), the Soma clan moved to Namegata District in Oshu (present-day Minamisoma City), and the successive lords of the Soma clan continued this tradition until the Meiji Restoration.
On the morning of the second day of the festival, about 500 mounted warriors enter the Hibari-gahara festival site via public roads in a procession. The sight of each participant clad in ancestral armor is breathtaking and truly worthy of being designated an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Asset of the country.
After entering, "Armor Horse Racing" and "Divine Flag Contest" are held, making for a wonderful festival reminiscent of the Sengoku period.
It is astonishing that the descendants of the Soma family still serve as the supreme commander, and that this event has been passed down for over 1,000 years, allowing me to experience the depth of Japan's traditional culture during my visit.
This festival was canceled in the year of the Great East Japan Earthquake, and after a scaled-down implementation last year, it has been fully resumed this year. I take pride in being able to support the historically rich Soma City, and I would like to express my gratitude to the citizens and staff who have provided their support.