Hadaka Matsuri: Festival of Thousands of Naked Japanese Men
On a cold winter’s day on the 13th day of the Lunar New Year, a very unique and unusual festival takes place at Inazawa City near Nagoya. Thousands of men wearing only loincloths, proceed towards Owariōkunitama Shrine in local neighborhood groups. The men are participating in the Hadaka Matsuri Naked Festival, a festival that dates back to the Nara period (well over 1000 years.)
The festival is part of a series of rituals that occur around the Lunar New Year every year. There are several Hadaka Matsuri in Japan, the most famous of which occurs in Okayama. At Inazawa, an estimated 250,000 people attend the festival every year.
Starting at 5AM on the main day prayers begin at Owariōkunitama Shrine. Later in the day at 3PM, after the local groups have all reached the shrine, the God Man Shin Otoko emerges and battles his way through the crowd of men. Everyone tries their best to lay their hands on the God Man, which is a sign of good luck for the coming year. Water and sake are thrown in the crowd of men, a form of ritual cleansing.
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What do the men get in return then?
Of course, a hot summer day at Shonan Beach is *almost* like a ladies' hadaka matsuri 
Chocolate on White Day..it depends on the guy's mood. Most of them, from what I have heard, tend to just ignore that day. 
Last edited Fri Feb 14, 2014, 10:02 AM - Edit history (1)
Anyway, I actually got some chocolate today! 
Well, more like a chocolate rusk, which is chocolate-covered melba toast. I'm not sure whether it's giri choco or not, but regardless, I plan on reciprocating the gift.
some girls handed me this flyer. It's for a new girls' dance group called Narumi Takiguchi with Control-S. They debuted just last month. Have you heard of them?
I wonder why they didn't try out for Morning Musume .. don't all young girls with talent seem to try out there first? Aiko Kayo, who is one of my favorites tried out and didn't make it but she was soon picked up as a solo artist.. NOW...she has left her singing career to be a cook on some TV show in Japan. I can not believe she left her singing job...I cried when I heard that she quit. I rather think she was forced out, because she couldn't dance very well.
The girls (and they may have been the performers themselves) were standing outside one of the station exits with their fliers, and no one was taking them (maybe the passers-by thought it was just another maid cafe flier or something). Anyway, when they saw me, they started jumping up and down a bit, and when I accepted their flier, they were all smiles, and I smiled back at them. And then when I started walking away, one of them said "Thank you!" in English, and so I turned around, and they all waved and smiled at me again Oh, that was so cute And the thing is, I was actually aiming to exit the station from the opposite side
