This is an unique festival which is being celebrated throughout Japan on the third Sunday of February. It is also known as the naked man festival. On one of the coldest nights of the year, thousands of men all around Japan strip down to loincloths (or even less) to test their manhood and secure luck in this traditional celebration. The rituals vary from town to town; in Okayama, for example, men purify themselves in water from the Yoshii river, run once around the Saidaiji Temple, and then try to catch sacred sticks that priests throw into the crowd (those who do are promised a year of happiness); in Konomiya, one fully naked man joins the crowd each year, and the others who find and touch him are granted a prosperous year.
History: Some 1,300 years ago, Buddhist monks initiated the practice as a way to purify their spirits. It subsequently evolved into a Shinto test of manhood, and then into the rite of passage (and fun Kodak moment) it is today.
By Anita Raj, Nageswarie, Kuganaeshwari, Rajeswary
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