Japanese Naked Festival – Okayama 2014

こんにちは〜 \(◕ω◕)/♥

Last Saturday (February 15, 2014) was the annual 裸祭り (Hadaka Matsuri – Naked Festival) at the 西大寺 (Saidai-ji : Saidai Temple) in Okayama！

This festival happens on the third Saturday in February. This year (2014) it was held on February 15th.

Okayama is located in the Chūgoku region on the island of Honshū.

Despite the name, people don’t really go naked at this festival. They wear traditional Japanese loincloths called ふんどし (fundoshi).

There are similar “naked festivals” at various times and places throughout Japan, but the one in Okayama is the most famous.

In this festival, over 9,000 men wearing only loincloths struggle fiercely with one another over a pair of lucky sacred sticks thrown into the crowd by the priest from a window.

Anyone who luckily gets hold of these sticks and thrusts them upright in a wooden measuring box heaped with rice is called the lucky man, and is blessed with a year of happiness.

The other lucky items are bundles of willow strips, and although 100 of these are thrown into the crowd, it is not an easy task to catch them.

This festival originates over 500 years ago. Back then, worshippers competed to receive paper talismans thrown by the priest.

These paper talismans were tokens of the completion of New Year ascetic training by the priests. As those people receiving these paper talismans had good things happen to them, the number of people requesting them increased year by year.

Purifying ritual in freezing cold water

Nowadays, on the day of the festival, before the main event, elementary school boys have their own 裸祭り (hadaka matsuri) event where they compete for rice cakes and cylindrical treasures.

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Video: 岡山はだか祭り2014

It’s like a sea of naked men… Σ(・ω・ﾉ)ﾉ