10,000 Naked Men Gather Inside Japanese Temple For Bizarre Festival Called 'Hadaka Matsuri'

Clad in only loincloths, close to 10,000 men gather inside the Saidaiji Temple every year, in freezing temperatures, for a bizarre event which celebrates prosperity and fertility.

Reuters

The festival called Hadaka Matsuri, or more commonly known as 'Naked Festival', is a Japanese festival where participants wear only a minimum amount of clothing, usually just a loincloth or a happi.

On February 15, at 10:00 pm in Saidaiji Kannonin Temple in Okayama Prefacture, men scrambled in the dark for lucky wooden talismans tossed into the crowd, in a ritual that dates back five centuries.

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According to Reuters, the two sticks, seen as lucky talismans, are thrown among 100 bundles of twigs and if caught, are meant to bring the catcher good fortune.

This year, most men escaped with just a few cuts and bruises from the 30-minute tussle; in the past, some have even been crushed to death, reports Reuters.

Reuters

"Once a year, at the coldest time in February, we wrap ourselves in just a loincloth to be a man," said 55-year-old Yasuhiko Tokuyama, the president of a regional electronics firm.

Reuters

"That's the significance of this event and why I continue to participate."

The participants run around the temple grounds and purify themselves with the freezing cold water before heading towards the main temple.

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The 510th edition of the Saidaiji Eyo Hadaka Matsuri (¡°Naked Man Festival¡±) took place in Okayama, Japan, on February 16, 2019. Every year, some 10,000 nearly naked men participate in this event and jostle to retrieve from the temple precinct one of the two scented wooden sticks called shingi. It is believed that the winner will enjoy good fortune for the year. On this photo, participants visit the main temple to receive the blessing of the High Priest before the main event.

A post shared by Nicolas St-Pierre (@nstpierrephoto) on Feb 18, 2019 at 12:27pm PST

The festival began nearly 500 years ago during the Muromachi Period. It evolved from a ritual, where villagers competed to grab paper talismans given out at the Saidaiji Temple.

Similar naked festivals are held throughout Japan as part of a tradition that is said to stretch back five centuries. Here's a video from 2017 which gives a peek into what happens inside the temple during the festival.

Inputs Reuters