The three-day Soma Nomaoi festival, held every July in Minami-Soma, Fukushima, dates back over 1,000 years to a custom where warriors caught wild horses with their bare hands. The festival features about 400 riders, dressed in the samurai garb of their ancestors. After a parade, a race in full armor, and a contest to catch flying flags, the climax of the festival, takes us back to its roots - riders, now in all-white clothes, catch unsaddled horses to offer them to the shrine as a prayer for peace and prosperity.
VIDEO BY MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF JAPAN