It's almost exactly how it sounds.
Naked Man Festival (or Hadaka Matsuri) is an annual festival that happens throughout Japan, where men from all over the country strip down to wear only a fundoshi (the type of 'nappy' a sumo player wears) and take part in a cleansing (with water and sake) that will please the gods. Then they enter the temple to compete to get a hold of one of the bundles of sticks that promise anything from a great deal of money to good luck throughout the next year. It is a pretty brutal event to watch, but it is also a sacred event and one that is not focused around fighting but around the glory of managing to secure one of these bundles.
Myself and a group of my friends made the trip last weekend (16th Feb) to Saidaiji Temple in Okayama for us girls to watch and have a good giggle at our lovely men who decided to take up the challenge (one for the second time!).
It was a great night and certainly eye-opening, however I was shocked by how scary it was to watch the festival. Us girls were constantly gasping, covering our eyes, and at times screaming when we watched the hundreds of men down below being pushed and shoved, sometimes falling off the raised platform of the temple, down stone steps. We were all really hoping that our boys decided to stay out of the 'mosh pit' centre to enjoy the festival from a 'safe' distance. At times we would watch fearfully as hordes of police officers streamed into the fray in lines, trying to access a competitor who had fallen, or who perhaps could not continue to be in the middle of the temple crowd. It seemed an almost impossible task for them to reach the middle, but thanks to strength, perseverance, and the support and understanding from all the men, the man in trouble would always get reached and rescued in the end - it was actually quite fascinating to watch the scene played out.
Anyway, it was a great weekend and, although cold, I believe all the boys were pumped to have joined in, and us girls definitely had a great time watching and taking photos.
So without further ado, here are some of the photos I took on the night...
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| Guys would run in groups and lines like this |
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| Our guys (from left) random, Luke, random, Colin, Todd, Harry, Austin |
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| In the temple grounds |
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| Everyone wants a photo with the crazy foreigners |
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| Looks horrible.. |
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| So many men in nappies! |
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| The line of blue is the police trying to get to someone |
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| we just had to take a photo with these guys.. |
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| Happily dressed again |
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| Still alive! |
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