【戦国絵巻】　相馬野馬追 2025年　400騎もの騎馬、1000人参加の勇壮な祭

【戦国絵巻】　相馬野馬追 2025年　400騎もの騎馬、1000人参加の勇壮な祭

A festival that tells the story of Minamisōma’s 1,000-year history, a Sengoku period picture scroll Hello, this is How to Walk Japan. The poster for Soma Nomaoi is really cool, isn’t it? We set off with a light-hearted attitude, thinking, “Let’s go for a bit!”, and woke up to a morning spent sleeping in the car at the “Murata Roadside Station .” Today is the second day of the Nomaoi, and it seems that the departure ceremony and race will be held, but neither of us had any knowledge of it, so we entered the site almost blindly, not knowing anything. Anyway, we headed for Odaka Shrine, where the departure ceremony will be held. There was a huge LCD panel at the IC exit. Images of Nomaoi were being shown. Odaka Shrine is amazing, it’s held in the city. It’s amazing, they catch them with their bare hands, apparently , and then offer them up as an offering. It’s starting to feel like a festival… I hope it doesn’t rain, but I guess it will. The departure ceremony is going on, there are shrines here and there, but there is one place called the “vice chairman’s house”, huh? I don’t know how big the house is, but the departure ceremony isn’t in two places… I think they do it in three or four places? The ward office is a parking lot, it’s close to the shrine, and there are toilets too, so it’s convenient… There’s some kind of climb up there, isn’t this the shrine? Horse manure! What is that? It’s a camper, right? Oh, but it’s not, it’s a car park, it’s a horse transporter! It ‘s a horse transporter! Ahh! I see! This is what they use to transport the horses! There are people sitting on the bridge, there are people watching over there, isn’t there a procession coming? Maybe it’s easier to see from up close , the procession goes through here… oh, it goes through there, it’s like going out into the town through here , and now the conch horn has sounded so do that, go through here and come down, and here I was told all about itThe marching ceremony is held at the three Soma Myoken Shrines of Soma Nakamura Shrine, Soma Ota Shrine and Soma Odaka Shrine, and they march out to the main venue, the Hibarigahara Festival Grounds, which is the main camp. The best way to take a photo is with everyone sitting here lolThe mounted warriors, who are the main characters of Nomaoi, hold a marching ceremony for each “go” to which they belong, and march out to the Hibarigahara Festival Grounds, which is the festival grounds . “Go” refers to the division of the Nakamura clan’s territory, and is divided into five districts: Uta-go, Kita-go, Nakano-go, Odaka-go and Shibaha-go . Cavalry units are organized for each district, and these are further organized into three armies for the three Myoken shrines. Nakanogo gathers at Soma Ota Shrine, while Odakago and Shinehago gather at Soma Odaka Shrine, where they hold a marching ceremony and march out to the festival site. Utago and Kitago belong to Soma Nakamura Shrine, but the commander-in-chief marches out here, so the process is a little different from the other two. First, the commander-in-chief’s marching ceremony is held at Nakamura Shrine, and then they march out. The Kitago cavalry welcomes the commander-in-chief at Nagata Jinya, then joins them and marches out to the festival site. That ‘s right, they march out at 10:30, so there’s sand for the horses to walk on… Is this a conch shell? That might be it . Odaka Shrine is a shrine dedicated to Myoken, the guardian deity of the Soma clan for generations, and is one of the “Three Myoken of Soma.” It is located on the site of Odaka Castle, which was the residence of the Soma clan from the end of the Kamakura period to the beginning of the Edo period. The mounted warriors visit the shrine, raise a toast, and march out at the command of the general. It’s an incredible sight to see a huge horse walking in front of you, but it’s like a dream to see a warrior in armor riding on it . After the marching ceremony, we watch the cavalry march out of the shrine from the sidelines. The marching procession parades around the area, but we head ahead to the festival site. We were lucky to be able to park in Higashigaoka Park, which will be a designated parking lot tomorrow, and parking is not possible. If you are going to watch the Soma Nomaoi, it is definitely more interesting to get some background information here. We learned a lot here, and it made the viewing even more enjoyable. This year, 400 horses will participate, and if you include the attendants, the total number of people will be about 1,000. The museum staff are enthusiastic to teach us all about various things. It seems that the “love for Soma” is transmitted. The origin of the Nomaoi is said to date back to the mid-Heian period, when Taira no Masakado captured a wild horse in what is now Chiba Prefecture and dedicated it to the altar as a sacred horse . The Soma family then took over the tradition, and it seems to have been passed down from generation to generation since they came to Minamisoma. In the Edo period, a “Noma Dote” was built on the site of what is now Hibarigaoka, and the Nomaoi was held there, but its area was several dozen times larger than it is today . The “Shinki Sodatsu Battle” will be held tomorrow. It seems that about 30 tags will be launched in total, and the first one is the tag of the host shrine that year, and is said to be the most valuable. The warrior who wins the tag will run up the hill and receive a reward from the lord. If you catch it, you take it up the “Yohyo-no-zaka” and bring it to where the lord is. If you do that, you can get a shrine talisman or a souvenir. The warrior who wins the talisman returns home in triumph with the talisman on his back, and becomes a bit of a hero. If you have a lot of talismans… the tools used in the “Nomakake” event on the third day are on display. This is an event where the sacred horse is caught with bare hands and dedicated to it. There is a bucket that holds the well water of Odaka Shrine, which is said to bring good luck, and a tool like a broom . The broom is used to pour water on the horse, and it is used as a landmark to capture it. Also, there is a performance every time where a person faints during the capture and is revived by the power of the water, which is said to bring good luck. If you are shaken off and faint… you will faint , but if you take this water and pour it on with a ladle, you will instantly recover. This kind of performance is held every year. During the Edo period, the Soma Nomaoi took place on an area several dozen times larger than the current area, and the sacred flag battle had not yet been held . There is no “Shinki Sodatsusen”. It started in the Meiji era. I’m now at the back of Hibarigahara. In the past, hundreds of horses were let out to pasture in this size of pastureland. At the intersection with the old highway, there was the “Haramachi Kido”, from which the pastureland was to the south and the town to the north. The cavalry marched from the direction of the town and passed through the Kido to enter the pastureland. The Wild Horse Chase took place from the south towards the “Suzukakeba Kido”, from which the horses were taken to the sea, where they were purified and then headed for Odaka Shrine. The leftmost sliding door painting shows the capture and dedication of the sacred horses that arrived at Odaka Shrine. This is reproduced by the “Nomakake” that takes place on the third day. Yoi -no-horse race… Yoi is the day before, and on this day they don’t wear armor, but tomorrow they wear armor . I learned a lot. Thank you. Hibarigahara Shrine is 120 hectares. The horse track is 1,050 meters in circumference. It looks so big! Where should I go? Each procession that arrives at the Hibarigaoka festival site reports its arrival to the military strategist. This is very cool, using samurai language. I was surprised at how powerful it was. Tomorrow is the main festival, so today I’ll take it easy.

相馬野馬追は平安時代から続く伝統行事。毎年多くの観光客が観戦するが、我々は「騎馬が沢山いる」位の認識しかなく、この祭りがどんなものなのか全く知ら無かった。　今回、観戦にき、地域の人や博物館でこの祭りの素晴らしさや見どころが分かってきた。今回アップするのは祭りの前半、後半は週末にアップしますのでお楽しみに！

#夫婦旅行
#絶景
#相馬野馬追
#祭り
#日本の祭り

00:00　スタート
01:05　相馬着
02:04　小高神社
04:46　小高神社
06:14　送り出し
13:40　相馬市博物館
19:29　雲雀ヶ原祭場地
28:33　宵乗り競馬