Hadaka Matsuri: Thousands take part in Japan’s ‘Naked Festival’
Men in loincloths compete to be ‘luckiest of the year’
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Your support makes all the difference.Ten thousand men stripped off to take part in “Hadaka Matsuri”, an annual naked festival in Japan‘s Honshu Island.
The loincloth-clad competitors gathered at the Saidaiji Temple in Okayama Prefecture for the event to celebrate prosperity and fertility.
Their aim was to snatch one of two 20cm-long “shingi” wooden sticks thrown by a priest into the crowd.
The sticks, thrown among 100 bundles of twigs, are meant to bring a year of good fortune to whoever is lucky enough to catch them.
Similar naked festivals are held throughout Japan every year, as part of a tradition that is said to stretch back 500 years.
The event also includes bathing in cold water for an hour or two to purify the soul.
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