Japan's Slowest Horserace Banei Keiba Sees Renewed Popularity
Banei Keiba, a traditional equestrian sport from Hokkaido, Japan, is sometimes referred to as the world's slowest horserace. Massive workhorses pull 600kg sledges in a competition which has — unlike other forms of horseracing — grown in popularity.
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00:00 [Speaking Japanese]
00:03 As a sport, banye keiba is probably more akin to powerlifting than racing.
00:08 These horses in Hokkaido in Japan's north
00:11 plod rather than trot or gallop,
00:13 dragging a 600 kilogram sledge 200 meters down a dirt trap.
00:18 They don't move much faster than a person can walk,
00:21 but every step is a spectacle of raw power.
00:24 [Speaking Japanese]
00:32 Banye keiba races take place regularly in the city of Obihiro.
00:36 The sport's origins stretch back to Japanese farmers and laborers
00:40 who settled in Hokkaido around 400 years ago,
00:43 eventually displacing and assimilating the indigenous Ainu peoples.
00:47 [Speaking Japanese]
01:12 What started as tug-of-war competitions
01:15 was eventually refined into the modern horse racing scene here.
01:19 Banye had been declining in popularity until the COVID-19 pandemic,
01:23 when renewed interest spurred a comeback in the sport.
01:27 Gambling on the event now generates nearly 400 million US dollars a year,
01:32 five times more than it did just over a decade ago.
01:35 Banye keiba's growing popularity is part of what makes the event so unique.
01:40 In places like Singapore, which has a long history of horse racing,
01:44 people are steadily losing interest in the faster form of the sport.
01:48 For race horses pulling the sleds in Banye also set it apart.
01:52 [Speaking Japanese]
01:59 [Speaking Japanese]
02:15 It's a napped description.
02:16 The horses used are nearly twice as heavy as those used in racing,
02:21 having once been used to drive plows and pull mining carts.
02:24 Critics of the sport point to its use of whips,
02:27 but enthusiasts insist that they don't push the animals beyond their limit,
02:31 and in an economy that's shifted to modern farming equipment,
02:35 the practice keeps the animals rooted in local culture.
02:39 [Speaking Japanese]
03:03 The future of this traditional sport looks bright,
03:06 but a rise in popularity also means more attention and scrutiny by animal rights groups.
03:11 For the moment, as long as the horses are allowed to pull sledges,
03:16 Banye keiba seems set to continue to pull crowds.
03:19 Chris Ma and Bryn Thomas for Taiwan Plus.
03:25 [BLANK_AUDIO]