The Odawara Hojo Godai Festival, a parade of 1250 daring soldiers/Kanagawa

Translated from the original article at: http://news.kanaloco.jp/localnews/article/1205030020/

May 4, 2012

A parade of heroic soldiers emerge from Odawara's Castle Ruins Park=The castle grounds of Odawara City

Odawara City's most attended event, the 48th Odawara Hojo Godai Festival (Celebrating 5 generations of the Hojo Clan), was held on the 3rd in the area of Odawara Castle. It was organized by the city's tourism association. Despite a portion of the festivities having to be changed due to rain, the organizers announced that 12,000 visitors packed the castle's interior and it's surrounding roads.

A battle commencement ceremony took place in Odawara's Castle Ruins Park. As a voice yelled "Okay, set-off!" figures of ninjas and armored warriors took off in a line. The army of 1250 marched 2.4 kilometers (1.5 miles) to the Odawara train station area.

An ambassador for his hometown of Odawara, actor Kai Ato dressed up as the first generation Hojo Soun. Mounted on a horse, he selected from the audience someone to perform the important task of playing third generation Hojo Ujiyasu. Five participants of the parade came from Souma City of Fukushima Prefecture, which was damaged by the disaster of Eastern Japan.

Original text:
小田原北條五代祭り、１２５０人が勇壮に武者行列/神奈川
2012年5月4日

勇壮な姿で小田原城址公園を出発する武者行列＝小田原市城内

小田原市最大の観光イベント「第48回小田原北條五代祭り」が３日、小田原城周辺で開かれた。市観光協会の主催。雨の影響で予定が一部変更されたものの、城内や沿道には観光客ら約12万人（主催者発表）が詰めかけた。

小田原城址公園で行われた出陣式では、「いざ、出陣」の掛け声で、甲冑（かっちゅう）姿や忍者姿の武者行列がスタート。総勢約１２５０人が小田原駅の周辺約２．４キロを練り歩いた。

俳優で小田原ふるさと大使の阿藤快さんが初代北条早雲に扮（ふん）して馬にまたがったほか、一般公募で選ばれた市民が３代氏康の大役を務めた。東日本大震災で被災した福島県相馬市からも５人が行列に参加した。