How a horse's death may lead to reform for ancient Japanese festival

A horse and rider climb a steep earth wall surrounded by crowds at this year's Ageuma Shinji or Rising Horse Festival

A 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?

The crowds cheer as a young rider, wearing the costume of an ancient Japanese warrior, rides his horse fast up a steep hill. They are heading straight for a mud wall at head-height, which they have to jump over.

The final narrow stretch below the wall is lined with dozens of men, holding hands and chanting. Their role is to help their district's horse and rider over the top - tradition has it that every horse that jumps over the wall will bless the harvest.

But the horse gets stuck on its belly, legs flailing, until it is hauled over the wall by shrine parishioners using ropes.

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.

One horse was put down after falling down the hill and fracturing its left leg, leading to an outpouring of grief on social media. Five other horses were also injured, as was one rider.

Until this year, the festival had been considered a jewel in the cultural crown of Mie Prefecture in central Japan.

Ageuma Shinji - or Rising Horses festival - traditionally held on 4 and 5 May each year, was listed by Mie's education board as "an intangible cultural asset" 45 years ago.

But, after a three-year gap imposed by the pandemic, it seems the public mood has changed.

A tweet celebrating the festival led to a social media backlash and the prefecture received 1,000 complaints. A petition to end the rite collected more than 31,000 signatures, and the issue was even discussed in Japan's parliament.

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 course is gruelling: after a straight run down a road, the horses have to climb a steep hill and then jump over a high wall.

At 1.70m (5ft 7in) the wall at Ageuma is 13cm (5in) taller than the highest jump at the Grand National race in the UK, in which one horse died this year. It's also higher than the maximum 1.60m (5ft 3in) height allowed for show jumping under International Federation for Equestrian Sports rules.

In order to jump over such a tall object, a horse would have to build up a lot of momentum, says Dene Stansall, a horse expert who advises the UK charity Animal Aid. But he thinks the 200m (656 ft) run-up is not long enough for the horse to gain full speed.

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.

Tradition or entertainment?

A spokesperson for Tado Taisha, the shrine that hosts the festival in Kuwana, 100km (62 miles) east of Kyoto, told the BBC it is an ancient Shinto rite that dates back to the Nanbokucho Period (1337-1392).

But exactly when the hill sprint began is unclear. The first evidence the prefecture points to is a reference to "riding up the hill" in 1794, but there is no mention of a wall until 1938. The first filmed evidence did not appear until 1951.

Ren Yabuki, the director of the environmental organisation Life Investigation Agency (LIA), doesn't think farmers would have put their horses through such an ordeal when they still depended on them for their livelihood.

"There is no way they would do anything that would cause injury," he says. "They would lose their property."

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.

Four horses have died at Ageuma in the past 15 years, according to Mie Prefecture.

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.

In that time has submitted three official complaints to the police, none of which resulted in a prosecution. One complaint was dismissed because "beating" and "kicking" were not considered to be animal abuse at the time.

But in 2020 Japan's animal welfare laws were expanded to include the offence of "forcing an animal to overwork", which according to Dr Aoki means the uphill sprint qualifies as abuse.

Each of the six districts enter three horses, decorated with their team's colours

He is hopeful that this could be the year things finally change - Dr Aoki thinks the social media campaign has had a real impact. "Until now it was only us who called for changes. But people suddenly realised what this festival truly is," he says.

"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.

She told the BBC she was surprised at the spectators' apparent lack of concern for the horses.

"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 children were saying 'good luck' to the horse which had fallen and was suffering, instead of 'poor thing'. One local standing behind me said, 'I think I'll name my grandchild after the next successful horse.'"

On seeing the enormous pride felt by the people of the area, mihomi* realised changing local attitudes would be challenging.

Retired racehorse

But even fans of the festival who were there that day expressed shock when they realised a horse had broken its leg and been put down.

An image of the horse's injury was shared on social media, with the message that perhaps it was time to rethink the festival.

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.

He denied mistreating the horse, which used to race under the name Merzouga, and explained it had been put down on the advice of the vet and according to regulations.

He said he had taken part in the festival without incident for 20 years, "out of a sense of responsibility and for the sake of tradition".

"I have been a member of the Ageuma shrine since I was a child, and it has been a part of my life and a source of pride for me," the statement said. "The number of young people [who take part] is decreasing every year, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to pass on the techniques, culture, and traditions related to the rituals."

Young men from the district wear traditional clothes for the event

The statement went on to say that the owner and his family had received many "angry and scolding messages", which they had been unable to respond to because they had been "in an unstable mental state" since the accident.

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.

"One of the problems with racehorses is that they're very fragile animals," says horse expert Mr Stansall. The very qualities that enable them to run so fast - a light skeleton and strong muscular body - also puts them at greater risk of breaking limbs.

At the Palio di Siena - an Italian race with mediaeval origins which attracts thousands of tourists every summer - thoroughbred horses are no longer allowed to take part because they often had serious accidents, says Sonny Richichi, from the charity Italian Horse Protection.

A riderless horse at the Palio di Siena race in Italy in 2019

Both the Palio and the Grand National have recorded more horse deaths than Ageuma in the last 15 years, although direct comparisons between the events are hard to make.

Jumping is more dangerous though - Mr Stansall suggests that three horses die when jumping over obstacles for every one horse that dies running on flat ground.

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."

Dossier of evidence

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.

She shared the dossier with the BBC. It included multiple pictures of welts on horses' skin, which Ms Nitta believes were caused by the riders whipping them with bamboo sticks.

A spokesperson for the shrine explained that the riders follow ancient customs, and that using bamboo sticks was part of that.

Ms Nitta also witnessed spectators hitting the horses with their hands or with Happi coats - traditional short jackets worn at festivals.

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.

"If you consider this is still happening even with official observers present, I can't imagine what it was like before," says Ms Nitta.

Mie Prefecture told us it wants to ensure that the Ageuma ritual is a safe event for both people and horses. In 2004, it established the Council for the Prevention of Cruelty to Horses which provides guidance and advice on the handling of horses. And in 2010, they prohibited spectators from coming into contact with the horses.

Lowering the wall

Initially the prefecture said some of the behaviour at this year's event was "inappropriate" but stopped short of calling it abuse.

However, following its yearly health and safety meeting, on 19 June the prefecture proposed changes to the festival that would be "acceptable to society based on the concept of animal welfare".

They announced that the entire structure of the hill, including the wall, would be reviewed and also promised to improve the way horses were handled.

But Ms Nitta thinks the height of the wall is not the only issue, and that there is no way the event can be conducted safely. She says horses find the noise, heat and crowds distressing, as well as the long days.

"The investigation showed that the environment of Ageuma itself is a very stressful place for horses to be, even before climbing over the wall or running up the hill," she says.

For now, the prefecture's proposal lacks detail, adds the LIA's director, Mr Yabuki. He hopes the ritual will one day not use animals at all.

And although she recognises the importance of the festival for the community, mihomi* says she will carry on fighting for change.

"Even traditional events should be changed to suit modern ethics and social conventions," she says.

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