Every September in Kumamoto City, Fujisaki Shrine holds a festival marking a military victory against Korea that took place around 400 years ago. In the morning, a procession leaves the shrine, as if going to war. And in the afternoon and evening all of the groups in the procession return, dancing and chanting, with drums and cymbals. The focus for many people is the horse that leads all of the groups. This year there were 48 separate groups, all brought together based on some commonality, such as being graduates of a particular school, living in a particular neighborhood, belonging to a particular business organization, or working in the same company. Each of the groups has a horse that wears a costume and is pulled through the city. Upon entering the main gate to the shrine, the handlers do their best to incite the horse to kick and run in circles. Essentially the men are teasing the horse to get it excited. This year I even saw some young men throwing small snapping fireworks at their horse to annoy it. The horses resist, of course, and in doing so, excite the men to torture the horses even more. It's not always easy to watch this, but there are huge crowds that brave the heat, and this year the rain, to watch their friends in the parade and witness horses being treated very poorly.
Someday I would like to research this festival and see how it fits into a larger story about how Japanese relate to horses. They are pets for riders, but also eaten raw as a delicacy. Horses have a long and complicated relationship with people in Japan, one which I think would make for a fascinating book.
