Soma Nomaoi

Soma Nomaoisamuraihorse racingMinamisomafolk cultural property

Fukushima · Minamisoma

37.6218°N, 140.9694°E

Soma Nomaoi is a thousand-year-old military exercise that never stopped being one. Several hundred riders in genuine family armour, carrying their own ancestral banners, ride through the towns of the Soma coast over three days. It has been a nationally designated Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property since 1952.

The centre of it is Hibarigahara, where two events take place: kacchu keiba, armoured horse racing over a flat course with the riders in full harness, and shinki sodatsusen, in which sacred flags are fired into the air by fireworks and the horsemen fight for them as they fall. On the third day, at a shrine, unarmed men in white drive loose horses into a pen and catch them barehanded. The dates moved from July to the last weekend of May from 2024, because of the summer heat.

Essential Information

Opening Hours

Three days from the last Saturday of May

Closed: Held once a year

Entrance Fee

Free to watch from public areas | Paid grandstand seating at Hibarigahara sold in advance

Best Season

Last weekend of May

Visit Duration

A full day for the main day

Getting There

Access Information

Hibarigahara festival ground, Haramachi-ku, Minamisoma, with events also in Soma and Namie. Held over three days from the last Saturday of May, having moved from July from 2024. Day one has the departure ceremonies and evening horse racing, day two the procession, armoured horse racing and sacred flag competition at Hibarigahara, and day three the horse-catching ritual at the shrine. Paid grandstand seating at Hibarigahara is sold in advance; confirm the current year's dates and ticketing with the organising committee.

Insider Guide

Premium

**The dates moved to May.** From 2024 it runs on the last weekend of May rather than in July, because of heat risk to horses and riders. A lot of older material still says July. **Day two at Hibarigahara is the main event.** Armoured racing and the sacred flag competition. Grandstand seats are sold in advance and the ground is exposed with very little shade. **The armour is real and family-owned.** These are not costumes hired for a festival. The banners are ancestral and the riders are descendants, which is what separates this from a reconstruction. **Day three is the oldest part.** The horse-catching ritual, with unarmed men in white driving loose horses into a shrine pen, is the ritual the whole thing grew out of and is much less watched. **Book accommodation early.** The Soma coast has limited lodging and it fills for the festival weekend months ahead.

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