Soma Nomaoi

One of the first fully-decked out Samurai's I saw, carrying a flag that simply reads: "One"

The head of one of the local shrines climbing the winding road to offer prayers to the gods for victory in today's tournament.

This guy is the 33rd descendant of the Soma tribe of Samurai dating back to feudal Japan.  The pride and history in family names in Japan are kept strong.

Racers round the 4th bend, pick up a lot of speed heading for the finish line.

A rare team victory.  Members of the same team were able to claim a flag, I'm sure their respective shrines were impressed.

This rider keeps the grin off his face even though he won by a mile.  He knows what he accomplished, he doesn't need the re-assurance of the crowd.

My camera snapped just before they got to the finish line, the black-flag rider actually won by a horse's nose.

These were my favorites, if interested though, there are a few more in the set, you can see here: Soma Nomaoi Set