KUWANA, Mie (Jpaan): The traditional Ageuma Shinji horse-jumping ritual was held this week at Tado Taisha shrine in Kuwana, Mie Prefecture, an event in which horses are ridden up a slope.
Six horses participated on Monday, the first of two days of the ritual. Five of them — excluding one from which the rider fell — made it to the top of the slope, drawing applause from spectators. Three horses ascended the slope on Tuesday (May 5).
The ritual is said to have begun about 700 years ago. Until 2023, the horses ran up a steep slope and jumped over a nearly 2-meter-high mud wall at the top.
The number of times they cleared the wall was used to predict that year’s crop yield.
However, during the 2023 ritual, a horse broke a bone and had to be euthanized, sparking criticism on social media and elsewhere that the event constituted animal abuse.
Since 2024, the mud wall has been removed and the slope made less steep. To reduce the strain on the horses’ legs, sand has been added to the course since last year, and riders no longer carry whips. - The Yomiuri Shimbun
