Scores of horses suffer sunstroke at Japan samurai event

The annual Soma Nomaoi festival features more than 400 participants dressed as mediaeval samurai warriors fighting on horseback. - AFP

TOKYO (AFP): Organisers of an annual horse festival in Japan where riders dressed as samurai re-enact battles said Tuesday (Aug 8) they were considering changing dates for the gathering next year, after sunstroke affected 111 animals, killing two of them.

Japan has recorded its hottest average July temperatures in over 100 years, and on Tuesday heatstroke alerts were in place in 26 out of 47 prefectures, with the mercury forecast to hit 38 Celsius (100 Fahrenheit) in places.