Japan Ends Annual 'Naked Men' Festival After 1250 Years As Population Too Old To Participate

The Kokuseki Temple in northern Japan's Iwate region decided to end the popular centuries-old "Sominsai" festival. The 1250-year-old annual ritual, dubbed as one of Japan's strangest traditions, witness hundreds of naked men passionately chanting "jasso, joyasa" (meaning "evil, be gone") as they grapple over a bag of wooden talismans.

AFP

Hard to keep up with the rigours of the ritual

The decision to discontinue the beloved "Sominsai" festival arises from the difficulties encountered by the aging local community in managing the elaborate event, who find it hard to keep up with the rigours of the ritual.

Despite its annual attraction of hundreds of participants and thousands of tourists, the festival succumbed to the challenges posed by Japan's ageing population crisis, especially impacting rural communities and their traditions.

"It is very difficult to organise a festival of this scale," said Daigo Fujinami, a resident monk of the temple that opened in 729.

"You can see what happened today --so many people are here and it's all exciting. But behind the scenes, there are many rituals and so much work that have to be done," he said. "I cannot be blind to the difficult reality."

AFP

Japan's population ageing rapidly

Japan's society has experienced a notably accelerated ageing process compared to many other nations, leading to the closure of numerous schools, shops, and services, particularly in small or rural areas.

The Kokuseki Temple's Sominsai festival, which previously spanned from the seventh day of Lunar New Year until the following morning, was among the traditions impacted by these demographic shifts.

But during the Covid pandemic, it was scaled down to prayer ceremonies and smaller rituals.

The final festival was a shortened version, ending around 11:00 pm, but it drew the biggest crowd in recent memory, local residents said.

Reuters

The Sominsai festival

As the sun set, men in white loincloths came to the mountainous temple, bathed in a creek and marched around temple's ground. They clenched their fists against the chill of a winter breeze, all the while chanting "jasso joyasa".

Many participants and visitors voiced both sadness and understanding about the festival's ending.

"This is the last of this great festival that has lasted 1,000 years. I really wanted to participate in this festival," Yasuo Nishimura, 49, a caregiver from Osaka, told AFP.

From next year, Kokuseki Temple will replace the festival with prayer ceremonies and other ways to continue its spiritual practices. "Japan is facing a falling birthrate, ageing population, and lack of young people to continue various things," Nishimura said.

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