Naked Festival: Thousands Gather For Japan’s Annual ‘Hadaka Matsuri’

The third Saturday of February marks a wild festival held every year, where about 10,000 males gathered at the annual “Naked Festival” in Okayama, Japan to celebrate the “Hadaka Matsuri”, at the Saidaiji Kannonin Temple, Japan.

The festival held on Saturday Japanese time, where the 10,000 male participants can be seen wearing a little loincloth called a “fundoshi” and a pair of white socks called “tabi”, celebrates the blessings of harvest, prosperity and fertility, and is usually practised by young men.

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The men spend an hour or two running around the temple grounds  and purify themselves with freezing cold water.

They gather themselves into the main temple building, after running round the temple, purifying themselves.

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At exactly 10 p.m., the lights goes off and a priest throws 100 bundles of twigs and two lucky 20-centimeter-long shingi sticks into the crowd from a window four meters above.

Any of the 10,000 men who gets hold of one of the bundles and/or the two sticks is guaranteed a year of good fortune.