There are only two festivals in Japan that have been ongoing for over a thousand years. Soma Nomaoi in Fukushima is one of them. This festival is a large, 3-day event filled with warriors, horses and a whole lot of history.
Since I live only a few hours away from this incredible festival, last year I was keen on joining in on the festivities and learning more about Japanese history. However, hotels had already sold out months beforehand and I wanted to stay for more than just one day. This year, Soma Nomaoi is already marked in my calendar from Saturday, July 23rd to Monday, July 25th.
Last week I had the opportunity to visit the town of Minami Soma where Soma Nomaoi is held, to try on the battle armor worn during the festival. I wasn't disappointed! In my tour there were about 30 of us, and the armor was lined up and waiting for us in neat rows. There were three colors - orange, green and blue. I learned that the shape of the helmet signified the rank of the warrior. Sadly I didn't find out this information until after I had picked the armor of a lowly foot soldier.
The kind staff walked us through how to put on the armor, one piece at a time. Tabi (Japanese socks with only one gap between the big toe and the rest of your toes), underpants, undershirt, leg guards, arm guards that wrap around your chest to hold in place, a sash, the top armor, another sash, a headband, sandals, and finally the helmet. At one point my neighbors and I had to assist each other with tying the strings. It made me wonder - how did warriors in the past do it so quickly and without assistance?
Although the armor was pretty heavy, I found the restricted movement to be the most problematic. Depending on how tight you tied the arm guards that wrapped around your chest, you had to decided between a limited range of motion, or risk having your arm guards slip sideways.
Once we had put on the armor, flags were stuck into a flag holder that was built into the back of our armor (we had incorrectly assumed it was a handle to drag each other around). We were led outside and down the street to a small shrine to take pictures. I was uncomfortably aware that my toes stuck so far off my sandals that my toes touched the pavement. Everyone else was having a similar problem, so I wonder if warriors of the past just had tiny feet or they were supposed to be that small.
As we took pictures, I noticed one more difficulty with the armor. I almost tripped myself when the string on my leg protectors and underpants came undone. The armor restricted my movement to the point where I couldn't even reach the strings, so I had to ask for assistance from a staff member. It made me wonder about such trivial problems that may have occurred in battle in the past.
When we finished, I felt ready and prepared to experience the festival with new eyes. Being able to wear the armor gave me an unexpected viewpoint into what it was like for warriors in the past. We don't often think about the smaller details of the past. Rather than going to the festival expecting a clan of warriors that will fight in a mock battle, I will be going with the curiosity of how each individual warrior may have lived in the past.
