A 680-year-old Shinto festival accused of animal cruelty has promised reforms after a horse died.
A horse and rider climb a steep earth wall surrounded by crowds at this year's Ageuma Shinji or Rising Horse FestivalA horse's death and allegations of animal cruelty sparked a national outcry against a famous Shinto festival in a Japanese mountain town. The authorities have now promised reforms - but can this 680-year-old event change enough to secure its future?
In another dramatic moment caught on video, a horse slams its lower jaw on top of the mud wall, and both horse and rider tumble backwards.Most of the 18 horses that take part over the two days of the festival fail to overcome the near-impossible obstacle. Now, in a win for campaigners, the prefectural government has announced it will review the slope and structure of the wall in line with animal welfare concerns.Supporters for each district line the ramp leading up to the wall to support their horse and rider
The hill makes it even harder, he explains, because when horses go up an incline "their stride changes dramatically" - as a consequence, very few horses will actually make it over the top.A spokesperson for Tado Taisha, the shrine that hosts the festival in Kuwana, 100km east of Kyoto, told the BBC it is an ancient Shinto rite that dates back to the Nanbokucho Period .
The lack of clarity about dates bolsters the argument by animal rights campaigners that the wall sprint is not an ancient tradition but was introduced later, to attract more visitors to the shrine.Dr Koichi Aoki, a vet from the Japanese Coalition for Animal Welfare, has been campaigning for 21 years to lower the wall and slope at Ageuma and improve conditions for horses.
"If it is not a traditional event, then it is just animal entertainment masquerading as a Shinto ritual, and there is no reason why it should not be stopped," says a campaigner known as mihomi*, who attended the festival this year."Locals, young and old, men and women, were cheering and shouting for joy and sorrow as the horses crashed into the walls and tumbled down the hill, as if they were betting," she says.
The owner of the horse that died is a local rice distributor. After coming under fire on social media he issued a statement, apologising for the death. Campaigners are concerned about the use of retired racehorses like Merzouga, because thoroughbreds are even less suited to the course than Japan's horse breeds of old, which were smaller. But now native horses are rarely found.
However, he thinks that the danger is part of the attraction at such events. "It's about the failure as much as the success - the spectacle of horses falling and going down on the ground."The environmental group LIA has this year submitted a formal complaint about Ageuma to the police. Their investigator, Kaoru Nitta, scrutinised hours of footage and media reports, and found 118 instances of suspected abuse.
The shrine said they had long tried to educate the public by distributing posters and flyers, and that it was "regrettable for us to be told that some people ignore our reminders". It added that it observed all the relevant laws and regulations and had doubled the number of inspectors at the festival.
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