The Soma Nomaoi is a traditional festival held in the Soma region of Fukushima Prefecture, widely known as a grand equestrian event originating from samurai military training. However, similar \u201cNomaoi\u201d customs historically existed in regions beyond Soma as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1. Nomaoi in the Kant\u014d Region<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Kanto region once had numerous horse pastures called \u201cmaki,\u201d where samurai engaged in \u201cnomakake\u201d (wild horse capture). The custom of nomaoi is believed to have persisted particularly in Chiba and Ibaraki Prefectures from the medieval period through the Edo period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chiba Prefecture (Shim\u014dsa Province)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Records indicate nomaoi was practiced as part of combat training in the Kant\u014d region, which was ruled by Taira no Masakado.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During the Edo period, nomaoi was also practiced in domains like Sakura Domain to manage wild horses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ibaraki Prefecture (Hitachi Province)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Events similar to nomaoi existed as military training for samurai, particularly utilized during the Warring States period to hone mounted combat tactics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
2. Nomaoi in the Kyushu Region<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Similar to the Kanto region, a culture akin to nomaoi was also transmitted to parts of the Kyushu region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kumamoto Prefecture (Aso Region)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Horse breeding has flourished here since ancient times, and it is said that a culture of capturing and training wild horses existed on Aso's pastures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Miyazaki Prefecture (Takachiho Region)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are areas where rituals involving the offering of wild horses to the gods are performed, showing common ground with the spirit of the wild horse chase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
3. Why the Wild Horse Chase Survived Especially in Soma<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today, the event widely known as \u201cNomaoi\u201d is the \u201cSoma Nomaoi\u201d in the Soma region. The reasons for this prominence include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Soma clan ruled for a long period and continued Nomaoi as a clan event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It became established as a festival centered around the Soma Three Shrines (Soma Nakamura Shrine, Soma Ota Shrine, Soma Odaka Shrine).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The local people continued to preserve the tradition even after the Meiji period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Summary<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Historically, events and customs similar to the wild horse chase were observed throughout Japan, including in the Kant\u014d and Ky\u016bsh\u016b regions. However, in the S\u014dma region, the tradition became deeply intertwined with samurai culture and faith, continuing to this day as a source of local pride. Consequently, when people refer to the \u201cwild horse chase\u201d today, they generally mean the \u201cS\u014dma Nomaoi.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We hope this tradition continues to be passed down and becomes known to many people!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Soma Nomaoi is a traditional festival held in the Soma region of Fukushima Prefecture, widely known as a grand eques\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":199,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-13"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.soma-nomaoi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.soma-nomaoi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.soma-nomaoi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.soma-nomaoi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.soma-nomaoi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=198"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/en.soma-nomaoi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":310,"href":"https:\/\/en.soma-nomaoi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198\/revisions\/310"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.soma-nomaoi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/en.soma-nomaoi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.soma-nomaoi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/en.soma-nomaoi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}