Chagu Chagu Umakko

Chagu Chagu Umakko is a June festival in Iwate Prefecture, held on the second Saturday, in which roughly one hundred horses in ornate handmade costumes and bells process thirteen kilometers from Onikoshi-Souzen Shrine to Morioka Hachiman Shrine. Rooted in a roughly 200-year-old tradition of thanking farm horses and praying for good harvests, it was designated an Intangible Folk Cultural Property in 1978.

Iwate Prefecture has been renowned for its horses since as early as the Nara period, and by the mid-Edo era, as pilgrimage travel grew more common across Japan, a local custom emerged of decorating one's horses in elaborate handmade costumes before visiting shrines, a tradition that would eventually crystallize into the Chagu Chagu Umakko festival roughly two centuries ago.