Soma Nomaoi

I went to Minami-Soma, in Fukushima to see the very famous Nomaoi festival. It is over 1,000 year old and celebrates the region's affinity with and heritage for horses. 
The trek there was pretty long as parts of the regions rail infrastructure are still ruined from the tsunami. Access is from the north via Sendai, but it took a train, then a bus (rail washed out) , then another train to Haranomachi Station.

A short walk from the station took us to the main route which was to be the 3km parade called Ogyouretsu from the Ogawa Bridge in the north of the town to the Gohonjin field. 500 samurai on horses paraded. Some of the riders were actual descendants of samurai lords. All of the kacchu or armour was from the Edo era.

The samurai started down the street. 

Every one had a distinctive and individual kacchu and helmet.

The riders and horses just kept coming and coming down the street.

Some heavy duty horses - massive Clydesdales!

Some cool horse hair samurai helmets.

The cutest samurai.

We then went to the ground for the kacchu-keiba - horse racing.

The riders took off their heavy armour, tied on their white hachimaki (headbands) and raced around the 1,000m track. They still carried their hata (flags) tied to their backs.

Rough stuff. In this race, two riders fell and the horses kept going. 

Then was time for the sinki-sodatsusen. A rocket fires two flags into the sky that explode open in a firework. The goshinki (god flags) flutter slowly to the ground as the horsemen pursue the flags. A battle of men and horse ensue until two riders escape with the flags and ride to the top of the hill to claim their prize.

This ambulance was kept pretty busy through the afternoon.

At the end of the day it was a train, bus, train, shinkansen (bullet train), and metro back to Tokyo. 
The Soma-Nomaoi festival was an absolute highlight of tradition, spectacle and scenery.