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680-year-old Shinto ritual of horses running up earthen 'wall' draws animal abuse complaints

13 Comments
By Casey Baseel, SoraNews24

Tado Taisha, a Shinto shrine in the ton of Kuwana, Mie Prefecture, was founded roughly 1,200 years ago. Horses were said to act as messengers between the local gods and villagers, conveying the will of the divine and the wishes of the people, and the equestrian connection continues to this day with the annual Ageuma, or “Rising Horses,” event.

▼ Photos from this year’s Ageuma event, held earlier this month

Screen-Shot-2023-05-16-at-10.40.14.png

First held around 680 years ago, the ritual consists of local men trying to ride horses up a steep earthen embankment that leads to the shrine. Multiple horses/riders make the attempt, and tradition holds that the greater the number that succeed in making it to the top, the better the harvest will be in the months to come.

It’s a visually dynamic event. However, in recent years there have also been growing voices in opposition of it. As you might have already deduced, the idea that the harvest is tied to the number of horses that successfully make it to the top reflects the fact that not all of the animals do. In fact, the majority of the horses at this year’s event, which took place over two days, failed to summit the slope, which is so steep that it’s called a kabe, meaning “wall,” even within the official promotional tweet from Kuwana City. This year, 10 horses made a total of 18 attempts. On the first day, none of the 12 attempts were successful, and on the second day, only 3 of 6 were.

So what happens when a horse “fails” at trying to run up a wall? The results aren’t pretty, but they can be seen in the video below, recorded at this year’s Ageuma event.

To summarize for those too squeamish to watch, when a horse “fails,” it often gets stuck near the rim of the wall. The animals don’t come to clean, gentle stops either. There’s usually a sudden, impactful halt as their momentum runs out, followed by a thrashing of their legs and jerking of their back and neck as they scramble for traction.

That would be painful and dangerous enough on its own, but there are also people at the top standing by to try to forcefully get the horse over the rim. Not only do they pull on the horse’s bridle and saddle, in the above video they can sometimes be seen throwing a rope across the path after the horse gets stuck, which a pair of men then pull to, in effect, drag the horse to the top by its hind legs.

The ostensible assistance looks far from safe or painless for the horse, but the animal is in a dangerous situation either way. In the scene below, a horse fails to make it to the top on its own and, when it isn’t pulled up the rest of the way, completely collapses and tumbles back down the slope.

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At this year’s event, one of the horses fell while running on the lead-up to the slope, broke its leg, and was then euthanized.

Though the Ageuma ritual is a centuries-old tradition, no small number of people seem to think its time has passed. Kuwana’s official promotional tweet for this year’s event, which invites people to “come see the gallant appearance of the riders and horses,” drew almost universally negative comments, with reactions including:

“I was shocked to see this kind of event being held…It is incredibly cruel, and I wish it would be discontinued.”

“A horse breaking its leg means it’s going to die. Calling this a ritual, and charging admission for the people coming to see it? The gods must be heartbroken, seeing the shallowness of human beings.”

“Do the horses look ‘gallant’ as they fall back down that cliff?”

“If every horse that tried in a day failed, I’m pretty sure that means it’s not within a horse’s abilities, and trying to force it to go beyond those limits is animal abuse.”

Perhaps adding to the negative reaction is that this year was the first time for the Ageuma event to be held since 2019. It was cancelled between 2020 and 2022 as part of pandemic countermeasures, and attitudes may have further shifted about what is and isn’t acceptable treatment of animals during that time to a greater extent than they would have in just a single year.

Organizers have not made any statement to the effect that they are considering discontinuing the Ageuma ritual, but the Japanese government’s House of Councilors’ Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Committee has said it will be discussing the event at its meeting this week.

Sources: Sankei News via Hachima KikoNHK News WebTwitter/@kuwana_city

Read more stories from SoraNews24.

-- Annual Japanese horse racing event to start off with a bang by collaborating with… Gundam?!

-- Japan’s daruma dolls seem to be causing problems for horses at the Tokyo Olympics

-- Gunma Prefecture’s mascot brought in an estimated 71.3 billion yen last year

© SoraNews24

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

13 Comments
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Pure cruelty. Time to kick this tradition into the long grass.

13 ( +19 / -6 )

Awful.

3 ( +11 / -8 )

Tradition or not - 21st C cruel abuse of animals.

And the hordes cheer it on, seemingly oblivious to the suffering of the "gallant" horses.

Clock turns slowly.

9 ( +11 / -2 )

Terrible treatment bit like the zoo's in Japan. Zero respect for the animal!

If they want to keep it going, at least remove the stupid jump at the top of the hill!

2 ( +7 / -5 )

I was by chance hiking nearby when this was on.

So I stopped to watch.

It was both disgraceful and stomach turning.

I'm not a big animal lover either.

The first two horses that made it over actually smashed into the jump

The second jockey flew head first of the horse.

Both horses were trapped on the stomachs on the mound they were supposed to jump

It took nearly a minute to drag them over. Their hind legs had nothing to gab so they were totally panicked.

And the groups who were in charge were completely drunk on sake.

Their eyes were totally gone.

It was just disgusting.

No place in a modern society but quite a threatening atmosphere.

12 ( +14 / -2 )

And yes everyone cheering and saying gambarre when it was just cruel.

8 ( +11 / -3 )

If this were seen as interesting by foreign parties they'd be touting it like you've never seen. Since it is rightfully seen as an object of disgust that should be put to rest (fortunately by many locals, too), they'll just say "Japanese customs are none of your business!"

-4 ( +6 / -10 )

There is no way the horses can enjoy that causing them great stress with all the commotion and shouting going on.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

Just because something is traditional doesn't mean it should be continued. We are human beings. We evolve. Practices like this should be regulated to the dustbins of history.

2 ( +7 / -5 )

Japan is the country of very weird customs and traditions

i imagine whats going on in the horse head surrounded by screaming agitated crowd... so unkind

0 ( +3 / -3 )

This article reminds me of laws decreed by Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, the 5th Shogun of the Tokugawa Shogunate, to the effect that animals, especially dogs, must not be killed.                                                                       

It also reminds me of bull fighting on Tokunoshima and Okinawa, etc., in contrast to that in Spain and Portugal, etc.  

In the former, two bulls fight like sumo wrestlers, whereas in the latter it's a showy contest between a fighting bull and a matador, who never fails to kill the bull at the last moment.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

This is horrible although slightly less cruel than Spanish bull torturing events

2 ( +2 / -0 )

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