#japanese horse

[rayless-reblogs]

Mysterious Extinct Japanese Cow-Horse

"Wushi-uma" taken from Wikimedia, from 1934.

I'm currently reading Year of the Wild Boar, a memoir by Helen Mears about her time spent in Japan in the mid-1930s. Without context or explanation, she quotes several accounts of an isolated, unique horse breed called the "Ushi-uma". It lived only on Tanegashima Island and was said to closely resemble a cow (ushi-uma means "cow horse"), primarily for having no mane or hair on its tail. According to Wikipedia, the breed was extinct by 1950.

Ushi-uma netsuke taken from zacke.at.

Has anyone ever heard of this beast? Is this a hoax? It doesn't look inordinately cowlike to me -- it has the heavy forehand and less developed hindquarters you see in Przewalski's horses. But the hair thing is weird. Does anyone on horseblr have ideas about the mane and tail?

Apparently it had government protection but was still extinct within a matter of decades. I wonder if WW2 played a part.

[ofhoovesandheart]

japanese racehorse blinders 🍀

[the-cricket-chirps]

Aoyama Seizan, Horses, 1930s

[rienafoutre]

[rainedragon]

SAMPLING Volume 1 September 1998 A selection of 12 pairs of Vivienne Westwood Rocking Horse Shoes

[horse-plush-a-day]

Sun Arrow Potte Pony

[jillraggett]

Plant of the Day

Thursday 6 February 2025

In the small arboretum of the Cruickshank Botanic Garden, Aberdeen, Scotland, was this young specimen of Aesculus turbinata (Japanese horse chestnut). This will become a large broad-crowned, deciduous tree with flowers that are creamy-white with a red spot produced in upright panicles (known as candles). The fruit will be roughly pear-shaped, with few or no spines on the case. But in the winter light it was the bark that attracted attention.

Jill Raggett

[balkanparamo]

Nakayama Tadashi (Japanese,1927-2014) - The Dancing Horse

[heaveninawildflower]

'Spring Warmth' (1897) by Kogetsu Saigō (1873–1912).

The University Art Museum, Tokyo University of the Arts

artsandculture.google.com - Wikimedia

[geritsel]

Utagawa Kunisada - Early Summer Rain (Samidare no kei), color woodblock print, c. 1832.

[snarp]

Google Translate ML-misuse-induced "No Wooden Horses" error of the day: it now frequently translates "本日" ("honjitsu"), meaning "this day" as "Sunday" - or possibly as the specific day of the week upon which the text is run through the translator! Will have to retry after midnight.

This is a particularly-dangerous fuckup: honjitsu and the days of the week are, obviously, extremely-common words. GTranslate's insistence on translating "wooden horse" as "horse" (because most horses are not made of wood), or refusal to translate rude terms like "temee" at all (because they're rude and don't appear in press releases), cannot compare.

Even translating "oneesan" as "gay man" isn't this big a problem: in nearly every situation in which that error occurs, it's going to be obvious to the reader that it is an error. "Honjitsu" intermittently turning into a specific day of the week is going to slip by without notice. That's a big-deal problem. Lawsuit shit.

[arthistoryanimalia]

More for #ILoveHorsesDay ❤️🐴:

Horses, a New Publication (Shimpan uma zukushi)

Color woodblock prints

c.1847-8 by Utagawa Hiroshige II (Japan, 1826–1869), 377x257mm

1874 by Utagawa Kunisada III (Japan, 1848–1920), 337x225mm

Legion of Honor Museum 1963.30.1472, 1963.30.5519

[emmyinjapan]

Kusasenrigahama (草千里ヶ浜)

This was an unforgettable stop, though I’ll admit, it felt like I’d stumbled into the middle of a frosty tundra. The freezing temperatures made the ground icy and treacherous, with each step feeling like a test of balance. The dry, biting air didn’t help much either—my face felt like it was being sandblasted by winter itself. Despite the chill, the scenery was absolutely breathtaking. This expansive grassy plain, located in the Aso Caldera, stretches out against the dramatic backdrop of Mount Eboshi, creating a landscape that feels like something out of a storybook.

What made the experience even more magical were the horses standing proudly across the plains, seemingly unfazed by the cold. Kusasenrigahama has a long history as a grazing area for livestock, with horses and cattle calling it home for centuries. These magnificent creatures, standing tall against the rugged volcanic backdrop, seemed like guardians of the land, embodying the area’s enduring spirit. Even with the icy conditions, their stillness in such a harsh environment added to the serene beauty of the place—an enchanting contrast to the bustling cities of Japan. It was a moment of pure calm, where time seemed to slow and nature’s majesty took center stage.

—Emmy

[rainedragon]

SAMPLING Volume 1 September 1998

[the-cricket-chirps]

Aoyama Seizan

Horse

ca. 1930s

[animatronicappreciation]

JRA Animatronic Thoroughbreds [And One Pony]

Hello, I'm Mod Horse and for my first post this year, I'll be sharing these AMAZING animatronic horses created to promote the JRA [Japan Racing Association].

The white thoroughbred and his pony friend were displayed at the Shiodome in Tokyo during 2019, while the chestnut was/is displayed at the Equine Cultural Affairs Foundation Of Japan. The black horse and the bay horse featured models astride them [I believe the white one did as well, though I'm having difficulty finding images] and were featured at Tokyo Station, evidently. The description of this video featuring the black and bay states they had "warm breath and twitching skin" included, which would be a hell of a feature!

I've linked the videos featuring these gorgeous creations in motion in the paragraph above, so definitely check them out! They seem to have been reused and refeatured here in there across the time between their rollout and now, so there's quite a few different photos of them out there.

They're incredibly stunning and they are truly lifelike, a difficult task on anything less than a feature film budget. Or maybe anything less than the JRA's special events publicity fund! They've funded some truly amazing collaborations and events, one of which I'll be sharing sooner or later, work schedule allowing....

Mod Horse