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)

Gifts for the homeless are handed out during Santa Bar Crawl, Oxford, England on December 5, 2017. Here: Oxford university students on a Santa-themed pub crawl. (Photo by Greg Blatchford/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Sudanese fishermen check their boats and nets before they row through the waters of Nile River near Jebel Aulia, Sudan, May 3, 2019. (Photo by Umit Bektas/Reuters)

A handout photo made available by the World Press Photo (WPP) organization on 13 February 2017 shows a picture by Rossiya Segodnya photographer Valery Melnikov that won the Long-Term Projects – First Prize award of the 60th annual World Press Photo Contest, it was announced by the WPP Foundation in Amsterdam, The Netherlands on 13 February 2017. Caption: Civilians escape from a fire at a house destroyed by an air attack in the Luhanskaya village. (Photo by Valery Melnikov/EPA/Rossiya Segodnya/World Press Photo)

Jorge, an immigrant from Mexico, dressed as the Sesame Street character Elmo rests in Times Square, New York July 29, 2014. Elmo and Cookie Monster have long delighted young viewers on TV's “Sesame Street”, but the recent antics of New York street performers dressed as the beloved characters have drawn the ire of city officials and now the show's producers. Sesame Workshop, which owns the rights to Big Bird, Ernie and the assorted puppet monsters on the 45-year-old program, said on July 29, 2014 it was drafting plans to stop performers who dress up as the characters from appearing in Times Square, where they pose for photos with tourists and then demand tips. (Photo by Eduardo Munoz/Reuters)

Macaque monkeys sit on a car in Hua Hin on May 29, 2020, as low tourist numbers due to the ongoing COVID-19 novel coronavirus situation have resulted in a decrease in the number of people feeding them. The monkeys in the town are going hungry as a consequence of the drop in tourism as a result of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. (Photo by Jack Taylor/AFP Photo)

Charlotte Louise, Travis Wood and Dylan Collymore in Pinocchio at Theatre Royal Stratford East, London in 2024. (Photo by Tristram Kenton/The Guardian)

Single Sports Second Prize. Garrett Gerloff (31) and Sandro Cortese (11) crash in the World Superbike warm-up during the World Championship on Phillip Island, Australia. (Photo by Scott Barbour/AAP Photo/Istanbul Photo Awards 2021)