A (sort of) Naked Man Festival

*Warning* There are a lot of men wearing very little in this post. Photos, videos and even words talking about them. Let's be honest, you should have known that already from the title, but if you find that sort of thing distasteful, now is the time to stop reading. Parental discretion is advised.

People have come up with some pretty crazy and fun ways to celebrate life. A lot of them seem to be in Japan for some reason. Sometimes it's just a parade like the Festival of the Steel Phallus. And sometimes, as foreigners we just don't understand why but luckily we can be a part of it. Welcome to Naked Man! There are many of these events held throughout Japan now at different times in the year, but the biggest and most popular is still where it all began, Saidaiji Temple in Okayama.

Bus full of eager exhibitionists

Fired up, ready to go

Why is there water?! WHY?!

Thanks to the awesome organization of the Okayama JET group, a team of foreigners is sent every year to the temple to represent the world. Team members came from all over Japan, showing just how popular this festival is. Some people might say that the best way to break down barriers is to just give everyone alcohol. While that does work, I think forcing everyone to strip down and to don a white loincloth is much more effective. For on that February night, those standing next to you were your brothers-in-arms. After running around the temple grounds and seeing the pool you will be wading into, you absolutely need someone next to you to help spur you on. Shower. Rinse. Repeat x 2. Whatever alcohol you drank doesn't mean a thing after you hit that water for the third go around. Your legs go numb and eagerly awaiting the time when you can return to the field tent for a little warmth from a single light bulb. Surprisingly, this was actually my favorite part of whole experience because the atmosphere is awesome. Spectators are cheering you on, hi-fives all around, and everyone on your team is bracing against the cold with loud shouts of Wasshoi! totally gets you pumped up.

The video is a little shaky at first, but towards the end you can see me in the 4th row. Thanks to the final chant, you can tell we are trying to catch "the shingi" so there is a point to all this semi-nudity. The first half of the festival involves a bunch of dudes running around in the cold for the enjoyment of spectators bundled up in warm parkas. The second half is when all of the participants then gather on the temple stage to wait for a bundle of sticks to be thrown. If you can catch the sticks and escape out of the temple complex, you would win about $2,000. However, there are many sticks thrown into the crowd. Only two of them will give you the cash prize, while the others are just "dummy" sticks. No prize, but you still win some luck for the future year because, hey, you were able to fight past a ton of dudes. Keep in mind there are thousands of participants, some reports say as many as 9,000 people, so a team is essential if you want to win this event. The team attempts to create a buffer to escort you out safely while opponents are diving in to grab at your loincloth touching a variety of sticks to see which one is the shingi.

This festival can be actually quite dangerous. Some people come away with bruised ribs, other people have died in the past. After all, this is a huge mosh pit. For about an hour, everyone is jostling for a prime position where they think a stick will land. The cold you were experiencing before is now replaced with an intense heat from bodies packed so tightly together. Temple priests occasionally throw water on the crowd from above only to see it evaporate almost immediately. From the photo, you see everyone's hands are raised up in the air. It serves a few purposes. First, since it's practically impossible to move, you can't really see where your team is. So people tape their hands with specific colors as a way to identify themselves. Also, you are constantly fighting against being swallowed up by this crowd, which means you need some leverage to keep yourself hoisted up. There is literally no room to move, so when one person inevitably moves a little, it creates this huge ripple effect that moves the entire crowd. Some people come out alright if they are safely in the middle. Those near the edges do not fare as well. Unfortunately, I was one of those near the stairs. After the first few times I tried to get up and get back in the mix of things but there was...no...way. So after maybe the 4th time of getting tossed down the stairs in a human domino and having 10 guys fall on top of me, I decided to wait at the bottom and spot those who were a little more persistent.

There's a lot of build-up to this point of the festival, but once the sticks have been tossed into the crowd, the real shingi seems to be carried out pretty quickly. There is a lot of strategy that goes into this such as decoy runners pretending to have it, and certain formations to pass the sticks along quickly and inconspicuously, all before anyone has had any time to notice what has happened. After that, people are just duking it out for the dummy sticks.

It's a unique way of celebrating, and certainly can be dangerous if you are not careful, but I'm glad I did it, and would definitely consider it again in the future if I have the chance.