Hadaka Matsuri

The Saidaiji Eyō is one of Japan’s oldest hadaka matsuri, or “naked festivals,” held every February at the Saidaiji Kannon-in temple in Okayama. It has continued, largely unchanged, for about five hundred years. Thousands of men take part, wearing only a white loincloth and split-toe tabi. They purify themselves in cold water before entering the temple, and again throughout the long build-up to the final rite.

The event fills a whole day, but the men’s rite begins only after dark, and builds gradually. A series of processions, purifications and rituals heightens both the spiritual intensity and the sense of anticipation, drawing out the suspense. The climax comes at around nine in the evening: the lights of the whole temple go out for a few seconds while the priests drop a pair of small sacred sticks, the shingi, into the crowd from a window above. The men push and wrestle to seize one and carry it out of the hall. Whoever manages it is named fukuotoko, the “man of fortune,” and is believed to receive a year of luck. The festival is listed as an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property of Japan.