Evy Thomas, dressed as Mystique, poses for a portrait on day one of Comic-Con International on Thursday, July 18, 2019, in San Diego. (Photo by Rebecca Cabage/Invision/AP Photo)

Soma-Nomaoi is a festival that recreates a battle scene from more than 1,000 years ago. It is annually held for 4 days from July 22 to 25 in Haramachi City, Fukushima Prefecture, in the eastern part of Japan. In this historical event, 600 mounted samurai in traditional Japanese armor, with long swords at their side and ancestral flagstaffs streaming from their backs, ride across open fields. Soma-Nomaoi has been designated an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property.

Photo: A young woman (C) clad in samurai costume leads other local poeple as she rides her horse during a parade at the annual Soma Nomaoi festival in Minamisoma, Fukushima Prefecture, on July 28, 2012. The traditional full-scale festival kicked off for the first time after the accident of the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant following the massive earthquake and the tsunami on March 11, 2011. (Photo by Toru Yamanaka/AFP Photo)

Liz Katz attends Day 1 of WonderCon held at Anaheim Convention Center on March 23, 2018 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images)

A man helps a child to dress as Jawa, a character from the Star Wars movie series, during an event organised by Star Wars fan club Monterrey in Monterrey, Mexico, December 13, 2015. (Photo by Daniel Becerril/Reuters)

A woman takes pictures with the Kawazu cherry blossom trees, one of the earliest blooming cherry blossoms in Japan, in Tokyo's Sumida district on March 11, 2024. (Photo by Philip Fong/AFP Photo)

The tail of a stranded whale is pictured on the beach of De Haan, Belgium on October 25, 2018. (Photo by Francois Lenoi/Reuters)

Anne Leanzo, of Virginia, plays Ash from the Evil Dead movie and her daughter Gina, 15, plays Lilith from the Borderlands video game during Comic-Con 2017 in San Diego, California, July 22, 2017. (Photo by Bill Wechter/AFP Photo)

Comic Con fans in costume arrive for the 1st day of the 2018 New York Comic-Con at the Jacob Javits Center on October 4, 2018. The four-day event which runs October 4-7 is the largest pop culture event on the East Coast. (Photo by Timothy A. Clary/AFP Photo)