Faced with the heatwave, the thousand-year-old samurai festival capitulates

After braving wars, earthquakes, and even the Fukushima nuclear disaster, the Soma Nomaoi—a unique, thousand-year-old equestrian festival in Japan—now faces a new and formidable adversary: ​​climate change.

Originally conceived as military training for feudal warriors, this historic event brings together hundreds of riders each year, clad in authentic samurai armor weighing nearly 25 kilograms. They first compete in frenzied races on an oval track, brandishing gigantic banners on their backs, before vying for precious, colorful flags thrown into the air. above a vast grassy field.

Traditionally held in the heart of the Japanese summer, the festival has seen its conditions become critical in recent years, with the extreme and stifling heat causing numerous cases of heatstroke among both participants and spectators, and even claiming the lives of several horses due to heatstroke.

Faced with this health and animal emergency, the organizers had to make a historic decision by moving, from the 2024 edition onwards, the calendar of festivities to the end of May in order to benefit from more clement temperatures, illustrating how climate change is now forcing even the most deeply rooted cultural traditions to adapt in order to survive.