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It is one of the wildest festivals in Japan: at the famous Somin-sai festival, hordes of men, all wearing nothing more than a thong-shaped loincloth and thin socks, take part in fierce battles at night in winter temperatures. They want to obtain a hemp bag containing good luck charms, believing that this will protect them from harm. The spectacle at Kokusekiji Temple in northeastern Iwate Prefecture has a thousand-year history, but it has now come to an end.
The shrine decided to discontinue the festival because participants were getting older and there was a lack of successors who could continue the tradition, Japanese newspaper ‘Asahi Shimbun’ reported. This means that one of Japan’s most bizarre folk festivals is falling victim to rapid obsolescence. No other industrialized country is aging as quickly as Japan.
Thousands of men struggle in loincloths
And so this year, for the last time, hordes of almost naked men gathered in the temple in the freezing cold. They first purified themselves in a river and then went to a hall of the shrine, where they prayed for a good harvest and other blessings before wrestling for a hemp bag containing small lucky charms, the newspaper reported.
The Somin-sai festival was one of the three most important ‘Hadaka Matsuri’, festivals of naked men, in the archipelago. This includes the Saidaiji Eyo at Saidaiji Kannonin Temple in Okayama Prefecture, 700 kilometers from Tokyo. There too, 10,000 men in loincloths and thin socks struggle at night in winter temperatures to obtain two wooden sticks in the belief that they will bring good luck for a year. (SDA)
Source: Blick
I am Amelia James, a passionate journalist with a deep-rooted interest in current affairs. I have more than five years of experience in the media industry, working both as an author and editor for 24 Instant News. My main focus lies in international news, particularly regional conflicts and political issues around the world.
