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The first time I came to Japan, Jun told me about a festival called Hadaka Matsuri,
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or the Naked Festival.
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My initial thoughts were “What the heck?”
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And I didn’t exactly understand it.
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But the day of the festival, hearing the chants of WASSHOI echoing throughout
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the neighborhood as hundreds of men paraded past our house,
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it was impossible for me not to get swept up in the excitement,
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even though I didn’t know exactly what was happening.
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The next day I was able to talk to someone who had spent years participating in and planning
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parts of the festival, and he graciously spent his time teaching me the story and meaning
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behind the tradition.
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The more I learned, the more I fell in love with the festival,
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and now I want to share with you what it’s really about, so you can understand it, too.
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There are naked festivals all across Japan and each has its own story.
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This is the story of Konomiya shrine.
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Men from cities and shrines across the Owari area will form groups according to their region,
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and before the festival they’ll produce giant stacks of mochi as well as a naoizasa,
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which is a long pole made of bamboo, tied to which are the wishes of people from their city.
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The day of the festival, they’ll parade the naoizasa through Konomiya shrine,
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an act called hounou.
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Visitors watching from the sidelines will try to touch the men and receive
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strips of cloth called naoigire, for good luck.
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She needs to be touched.
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Please touch her.
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This year, some super awesome obasans helped me get three!
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Thank you!!
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I'm so happy!
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It’s called the Naked Festival, but there’s actually only one man who is completely naked.
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He is the shin-otoko, or literally man of god.
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His entire body is shaved of hair, and he spends three days before the festival
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purifying himself with a diet of rice, takuwan, and hot water.
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He plays the role of a sacrifice,
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absorbing the bad luck and ills of every man who can touch him.
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The day of the festival he has to walk through 10,000 men wearing
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fundoshi to get to the entrance of the shrine, called the naoiden.
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The hadaka men will be frantically pushing and shoving in the hopes of touching
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the shin-otoko, so that they can transfer their bad luck to him.
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As you might expect, this can be incredibly dangerous.
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The shin-otoko will be bruised and battered by the end of the festival.
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To help protect him from being crushed, he has guardians.
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There will be three men surrounding him, previous shin-otoko from years past.
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Additionally, there are two smaller shrines nearby Konomiya charged with his protection:
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Koike and Shoumeiji.
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These men, called teoketai, will run laps ahead of the shin-otoko
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to a well in the shrine’s grounds.
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They pass buckets of water back and splash them on the shin-otoko
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and the crowd that surrounds him, which serves several purposes.
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First, it cools down and lubricates the men to prevent injuries.
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Second, the water is thrown from the direction of the naoiden
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toward the men surrounding the shin otoko, with the intention of stalling them
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momentarily so that the shin otoko can advance toward the shrine.
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On average it takes about an hour for the shin-otoko to reach the naoiden.
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The shrine officials awaiting his arrival will attempt to grab onto
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the exhausted, beaten shin-otoko, still fighting the crowd of thousands of men.
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It’s so difficult to reach him that they’ll tie themselves with a lifeline
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and jump into the crowd.
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Everyone is wishing for the shin-otoko
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to make it so badly that this final, climatic event is filled with emotion and tension,
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and the moment he’s finally lifted through the naoiden, the almost 200,000 festival attendees
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erupt into cheer.
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But his duties don’t end here, and at midnight he’ll face more challenges.
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before he can finally rest.
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There’s much more to this story that I can’t fit into one video, so if you’re interested
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in the details, you can read about it on our blog.
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The festival is a TON of fun, so I highly recommend checking it out
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if you’re ever in Nagoya around this time!
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I hope by watching this video, instead of viewing the hadaka matsuri
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as some crazy Japanese festival with lots of naked men,
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you’ll be able to understand and appreciate it more.
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At the very least, it’s a lot more fun when you know what’s happening!
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It’s currently my favorite festival in Japan,
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so maybe I’ll see you here next year!