I've Been There Before (A Little More History)

Minamisoma (Haramachi), Fukushima Prefecture (south of Sendai)

I've already mentioned the personal nature of this trip from a heritage perspective, but many years ago, I had the unique opportunity to help one of the larger, more renowned cities in Eastern Oregon create a sister-city relationship with an equally renowned city in northern Japan.  What did they have in common?  A rich history in horses.

Most everyone in the western US has heard of the Pendleton Round Up and recently they celebrated their 100th year, a remarkable milestone.  Haramachi (which a few years ago merged with two other townships to create the city of Minamisoma) similarly is the host of a celebrated festival of horse culture, but in place of cowboys, quarter horses and rodeos, Soma Nomaoi (wild horse riding) is a historic spectacle of the samurai culture that has been celebrated for over 1,000 years.

From chaperoning the royalty of the Pendleton Round Up court at Soma Nomaoi to watching samurai join the parade down the streets of Pendleton, the budding relationship between the two cities (facilitated by the enigmatic Mr. Uchiya) offered many memories of the people and events of the two very, very different cultures.

Riding American quarter horses in Haramachi

But that world seems so long ago when we imported quarter horses for show to Japan and had the pleasure of riding these majestic creatures on both sides of the Pacific.

I look at these old pictures now and wonder what happened to the riding corrals, what has happened to the many people I worked with.  Is Mr. Endo still leading the city council?  I certainly hope so.

But then I came across a picture that dragged me back to a memory of a chilly, overcast and windy day on the coast of Japan, standing atop a seawall that seemed to dominate the coastline in every direction.  It's like that picture of my wife and I standing on top of the World Trade Center so many years ago.   The imagination can not even fathom what reality wrought... and so I head west to the far east.

Standing on the eastern shores of northern Japan in Minamisoma (Haramachi)