Clad in samurai armour, Ishin Takahashi was among thousandswho took part in an ancient festival at the weekend in the shadowof Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear plant. With an evacuation orderfollowing last year's atomic crisis and rampant fears about radiation, the1,000-year-old "Soma Nomaoi", or wild horse chase, was all butcancelled following the March 11, 2011 quake-tsunami disaster.
But a year later, Takahashi and others, wearing 10th Centuryperiod costumes hope that reviving the traditional festival will helplift spirits in their disaster-struck community -- and inspire the youngergeneration. "This is a symbolic first step to recovery," the69-year-old said as a scorching sun beat down on Minamisoma, a small communityabout 20 kilometres from the nuclear plant that went into meltdown after it wasswamped by the giant tsunami.
Minamisoma remains largely a shell of its past with manyresidents having fled to other communities across Japan over fearsabout living in the shadow of the doomed reactors -- the site of the worstnuclear accident in a generation. But its street came alive with locals -- manyof them returning just for the festival -- galloping triumphantly onhorses around a specially-built hippodrome for the three-day festival.
Clad in decorated helmets and carrying razor-sharptraditional Japanese swords, participants swaggered about on horseback followedby a feudal lord's procession decorated with colourful banners displaying theirfamily crests. The sound of conch horns echoed through the streets with tens ofthousands of visitors coming out to see the ancient show of military pomp andpageantry featuring about 400 hundred horses.
"Nomaoi is my motivation in life," said KoheiInamoto, a 20-year-old plant worker who temporarily returned for the eventafter he and his family fled to Chiba, south of Tokyo. "Nomaoi is my'soul' connection with my hometown. If there were no Nomaoi, I would haveabandoned my hometown."
Inamoto was among many who missed last year'sscaled-back festival which saw most of the top events, includinghorse racing and capturing flags shot into the air by fireworks, cancelled.
The heritage event aims to recreate a medieval battlefield,having originated from secret military exercises held by samurai warriors fromthe tight-knit Soma clan.
