It is one of the wildest festivals in Japan, the tradition has been kept alive for more than 1,000 years: at the famous Somin-sai festival, hordes of scantily clad men fight fiercely with each other at night in winter temperatures. The object of desire: a hemp bag with wooden lucky charms.
The spectacle traditionally takes place in winter temperatures at Kokusekiji Temple in Iwate Prefecture. The men wear nothing but the fundoshi (a thong-shaped loincloth, probably the oldest known type of Japanese underwear still worn, mind you) and thin socks.
This year, the nearly naked men gathered for the last time in the temple in freezing temperatures. They first purified themselves in the river and then prayed in a hall of the shrine for a good harvest and other blessings before fighting for the hemp bag containing the small lucky charms (komagi).
A thousand-year-old tradition is about to end
The tradition has been maintained for over 1000 years – now it is over. The festival is stopped because the participants are getting older and there is a lack of successors. This means that one of Japan’s most bizarre folk festivals is falling victim to rapid obsolescence.
The Somin-sai festival was one of the three most important ‘Hadaka Matsuri’, or naked male festivals, in the entire country. This also included the Saidaiji Eyo at the Saidaiji Kannonin Temple in Okayama Prefecture, 700 kilometers from Tokyo.
There, thousands of men in loincloths and thin socks fight in winter temperatures over two wooden sticks, hoping that they will bring them luck for a year.
Source: Krone
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