The Soma Nomaoi began as a way to train mounted warriors and it still looks the same a millennium later, with riders dressed in samurai armour competing in horseback events.Until 2024, the festival took place at the height of Japan's gruelling summers, which had become so hot that riders and spectators were collapsing and horses dying of heatstroke.That prompted organisers to switch the festival to the cooler temperatures of late May.
Records suggest that Soma Nomaoi has been held uninterrupted for at least the last 400 years © Yuichi YAMAZAKI / AFP
Mitsukiyo Monma, who has been taking part in the event for 54 years, told AFP that the change had given the festival a new lease of life."You have to wear a kimono under the armour, which is not like going out in just a T-shirt in the summer," said the 69-year-old, adding that he needed medical attention on a day when the mercury was close to 40C."Your clothes would be so soaked that you could wring out the sweat," he said."When the festival moved to May, it was the first time I could drink hot coffee before going out."Scientists say climate change is making extreme weather events more frequent and severe, and temperatures around the world have soared in recent years.Japan is no exception. Last year, the country had its hottest summer since records began in 1898.Temperatures rising to 40C and above have become so common that Japan's weather agency recently created an official designation for them, labelling them "cruelly hot" days.'Truly a samurai'Such conditions are hardly ideal for the Soma Nomaoi, where participants compete on horseback in samurai armour weighing around 25 kg.The main event starts with races around a flat, oval track, with riders carrying giant flags on their backs.
