Japan’s ‘rising horse’ festival struggles to surmount animal abuse controversy

The historic Ageuma Shinji festival, known for its perilous race, faces mounting pressure to ensure the safety and well-being of its horses

Reading Time:3 minutes

A rider sits atop as it struggles to climb a steep slope at last year’s “Ageuma Shinji” festival in Kuwana city, Japan’s Mie prefecture. Photo: X/Kuwana_City

Published: 3:30pm, 29 Sep 2024

In Japan’s picturesque Mie prefecture, the ancient Ageuma Shinji festival captivates audiences each year with its dramatic horse race. As thunderous drumbeats fill the air, horses – wide-eyed with fear and adrenaline – charge up a daunting 100-metre slope, culminating in a leap over a two-metre embankment towards the sacred Tado Taisha Shinto shrine.

For 700 years, this breathtaking spectacle has drawn spectators, but it now finds itself at the centre of a contentious battle between tradition and animal rights.

Activists have long denounced the festival for the serious injuries inflicted on the horses forced to take part, which sometimes results in them being euthanised.

Recently, the police in Mie prefecture have sided with these advocates, agreeing to file animal abuse complaints against 12 people linked to the event, also known as the “rising horse” festival, and held annually in Kuwana city each May.

But campaigners worry that the latest legal challenge may once again be rejected by prosecutors.

“We know that the police have sent the documents to the prosecutors, but we are concerned, because in the past, the prosecutors have not always agreed to go ahead with the case,” said Ren Yabuki, founder of the Life Investigation Agency, an animal rights NGO.