On November 4th, the Soma Nomaoi armoured horse race, a traditional event from the Soma region of Fukushima Prefecture, was held at Oi Racecourse. Soma Nomaoi is an important national intangible heritage, its history extends for more than a thousand years and is considered the 'world's largest horse festival'.

In addition to the 'Armoured Horse Race', Soma Nomaoi also includes the 'Shinki-Sodatsusen', in which hundreds of mounted warriors fight for two sacred flags that sit high into the sky. The ancient ritual 'Nomagake' is when a few sacred men dressed in white and wearing a white hachimaki (white headband) capture a horse with their bare hands and presents it to the gods, and 'Ogyoretsu', in which more than four hundred mounted warriors' parade in dignity. The Soma region is visited by large numbers of people every year to see the magnificent spectacle of the Warring States period.

The Soma Nomaoi Armoured Horse Race had been held at Oi Racecourse since 1977, but in recent years the event has been postponed to prevent the transmission of the COVID-19.

For the first time in five years, mounted warriors gathered for the armoured horse race. After the traditional Soma folk song 'Soma Nagareyama' was performed, mounted warriors, in traditional attire, fluttering ancestral flags, and ornaments galloped around the main track. Many fans paid tribute to the heroic armoured horse races that has been revived in modern times.