Changes of the mode of Soma Nomao for a thousand years since its birth

Abstract

Soma Nomaoi is a traditional festival that has been held every summer in Soma City, Minamisoma City and surrounding areas in Fukushima Prefecture. The purpose of this study is to clarify how Soma Nomaoi has changed and has been continued for hundreds of years. As a result of the study, it became clear that Soma Nomaoi has been gradually developed and its structure was built at the end of 17th century, that it has survived through changing its mode drastically although it fell on the verge of disappearing several times, and that the content of the current Soma Nomaoi is different from that of the Edo period because it was forced to change its mode in the Meiji era in particular.