Samurai Horses

KISO UMA  木曽馬 

(JAPANESE KISO HORSE)

 

The horses ridden by the Samurai weren’t the sleek, long legged beasts you see in the movies, but were stub faced, long haired, short legged, shaggy looking creatures that resembled stocky ponies rather than modern-day thoroughbreds called Kiso-uma.

Samurai mounted their horses not from the left, like modern equestrians, but from the right side of their steeds.

 

History and Background

The Kiso Horse is a breed of critically endangered equines that developed primarily as a Japanese war horse. Native to Honshu, the largest and most populous island of Japan, it is one of the eight indigenous breeds of the country and is also used for light draft work and riding purposes. With their short, pony-like stature and gentle disposition

The origination of the Kiso horse, local name Kiso-Uma, is still shrouded in mystery. Exact origin of the Kiso and other ancient horse breeds of Japan is uncertain. They are believed to be descended from either the plateau horses of Central Asia or the Mongolian horses of the grasslands.

The only thing known is that they developed in Japan more than 1000 years ago sized more like a pony, and gets their name from the river Kiso that flows through the region where this breed originated. During this time they were used both as a mount in the battlefields, as well as an animal for agricultural and transportation works.

Bred and raised in the severe environment of cold mountains over many years, the Kisouma is very robust and can live on simple diet. Its hooves are so hard that it does not need to be horseshod.

Kisouma can steadily climb up and down narrow and steep mountain trails with their sturdy, stable legs.

There are records of horses being raised systematically in the Kiso region of Nagano Prefecture as early as the 6th century.

Kisouma have been raised for military and agricultural purposes since the Heian period (the 8th-12th century) for military purposes as well as in agriculture and transportation. In the twelfth century, the region was able to produce, according to legends, 10,000 cavalry mounts for Kiso Yoshinaka’s army.

In the Edo era (1600-1867) there was again emphasis on military use. Kiso canyon belonged to the Owari feudal clan. Records from this time regarding the ancient types have been a valuable aid to modern horse breeders. The government of the Kiso area considered the Kiso horse a strategic material, and produced many; numbers again reaching more than 10,000.

Records from the Edo period indicating the importation of horses by the Dutch to be given as gifts to the Shogun. Although it cannot be sure, these animals, generally referred to as “Persian,” may have been Arabians or perhaps a variety of Turkmen. Most white and Piebald horses are for Shoguns, high ranking Commander and samurai. 

During the Meiji period (1868-1903), Japan fought against several foreign countries. Because Japanese horses are generally small in size, the authorities discouraged breeding purebred Kiso and encouraged a crossbreeding program between the Kiso and larger purebred horses from Europe and North America were imported to increase the size of Japanese horse and make them more suitable for military use. 

To encourage this, the government introduced training classes throughout Japan to increase the use of horses in agriculture. The goal was to motivate farmers to breed larger horses to ensure a supply for the army. Foreign breeds imported included Thoroughbred, Anglo Arabs, Arabs, Hackney and several draft breeds including Belgian and Bretons. Two recognized breeds, Kandachi horse of Aomori and the Yururi Island horse of Nemuro, Hokkaido, are the descendants of native horses crossbred with larger European horses. The result of these many importations was the almost total disappearance of local Japanese breeds except in very remote areas or on islands.

Thoroughout World War II Japanese government program was administered for the purpose of castrating purebred Kiso males. Consequently, almost all Kiso stallions were castrated. The Kiso was effected more dramatically by this administration plan because the breed had traditionally been considered a good military horse. Other Japanese horses were primarily used for agricultural purposes.

 

In Japan today there are eight recognized native breeds all of them identified with a particular region and each displaying some differences in color size and conformation. Despite the fact that all of them are ponies, they played an important role in the Japanese history, being used for work, pleasure, and in combat. Unfortunately, all of them are very rare, and except for the many recently formed organizations fighting for their survival, some of them would already be extinct. There are today only 149 Kiso horses left, which are often seen in processions in local festivals. They are also used as riding horses.

 

Currrently the eight Japanese native breeds, it is critically endangered:

Kiso horse

Main production area: Nagano Prefecture, Honshu island 

Hokkaido Washu (also called "Dosanko")

Main production area: Hokkaido

Noma horse

Main production area: Ehime Prefecture

Taishu horse

Main production area: Tsushima, Nagasaki Prefecture

Misaki Horse

Main production area: Miyazaki Prefecture

Tokara Horse

Main production area: Tokara Islands, Kagoshima Prefecture

Miyako Horse

Main production area: Miyakojima, Okinawa Prefecture

Yonaguni horse

Main production area: Yonaguni Island, Okinawa Prefecture

 

All of these local breeds are known for their endurance, their ability to survive on poor food and in severe weather conditions and they all share the characteristics of having extremely tough hooves.

 

Physical Characteristics

The horses of the Kiso breed have a mid-sized stature with a massive head, a thick, short neck. The trunk is long, with legs are also short but sturdy, while the hooves are tough, well-shaped and well-formed. The mane is heavy and so is the tail. The males (studs and stallions) are insignificantly larger than the females (mares); a dorsal stripe that runs down the back (mane to tail) is considered to be a primitive marking. The Kiso horse stands at an average height of just over 13 hands (52 inches, 132 centimeters). Their average weight is 992 pounds.
For Male: 450 kg  Female: 300 kg

Coat Colours

The most common colors are bay, gray, brown, chestnut, roan, cremello and, more rarely dun. They do not, in general, have white markings on legs or face but a black dorsal stripe is extremely common.

 

Personality and Temperament 

The horse has the ability to adapt to different climates.  The horse is said to have a mild personality as well as an easy-going temperament.

  

Performance and Endurance

In 2015 tests were conducted by NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation and shortened from Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai), on the short-legged, heavy-set, shaggy-haired native Kiso horse (131 cm high), compared with a modern bred horse (152 cm high) and found that the pony-like Kiso was faster and more agile than expected. Carrying a 62kg rider in full armor and weapons, traditional Abumi stirrups and Kura (saddle) making 92kg in all, and using a purebred Kiso horse, the type used by the samurai, they discovered that the horse could gallop 100m in 12.03 seconds, a fraction faster than a modern bred Sawago horse, which managed 12.07 seconds. In the Figure 8 test, the smaller native horse was found to be more agile, and able to make a tighter turning circle.

 

As for the endurance of native Japanese horses, a test done by the Nihon Kacchū Kiba Kenkyūkai (日本甲冑騎馬研究会, Japan Armoured Equestrian Research Society) established that a trained Kiso horse was able to run for 1 km with an average speed of 21 km/h carrying an armoured rider, and it was able to run for about 3.5 km before being exhausted.

Some reference videos from the Koyodai Kiso horse ranch in Japan (紅葉台木曽馬牧場):

The first video showed Samurai horsemanship on Kiso horses.

The second one is from a photo shoot for a book about Samurai and their horse.

The third one showed Japanese pony size horses galloping down the hillside. Despite of their large head, short and thick neck, Kiso horses also have short sturdy stable legs with a stocky body and their hooves are well formed and hard they can steadily climb up and down narrow steep mountain trails.

Thank you for looking!