In episode 26 of My Hero Academia, a game called “Cavalry Battle” is played as the second stage of the U.A. Sports Festival. This kind of sports festival is a major event held every fall in most Japanese high schools. As you have seen in the story, it is not real Calvary Battle but it is a game involves teams of three, with two members acting as the horse and the third member as the rider.
“Calvary Battle” in Japanese is “Kiba-sen”. If you search for “Kibasen” on YouTube, you can see what it looks like (it may look a little crazy to those of you from overseas). You can see children riding on each other’s backs and fighting in this game like following image.
Why Japan school hold Kibasen game?
Kibasen is a team competition in which students ride on horseback and try to knock down their opponents with foam-padded spears. The objective of the game is to knock down as many opponents as possible, while avoiding being knocked down oneself.
The event is a modern adaptation of traditional Japanese horseback competitions that were once used as training exercises for samurai warriors. In its modern form, Kiba-sen is intended to promote teamwork and sportsmanship among students, and is often one of the most popular events at Japanese school sports festivals.
It’s too dangerous
Recently, there have been increasing cases where kiba-sen has been removed from athletic events due to its dangerous nature. In one high school, a tragic accident occurred during the school’s sports festival where a student participating as a rider in the kiba-sen game fell off and suffered a broken neck and severe after-effects from the impact. The incident escalated to legal action being taken.
However, for our generation, especially for men, kiba-sen remains a cherished memory of our school days, and it feels a bit sad to see it disappearing from athletic events. While it may not be as intense as the events depicted in MHA, kiba-sen involved exciting and intense actions such as pulling hair and kicking the opponent’s horse, making it an exciting event.
