Naked Man Festival

My school's Naked Man team. Intrigued? Read on.... ;)

Naked Man Festival---thank you Japan, for being such a crazy place to live.

If you type in "Naked Man Festival" on google's server, you will be bombarded with many different accounts of Japan's traditional "Hadaka Matsuri". But none of them did justice to my experience with Naked Man Festival...and I believe that every festival, every year, in every place is probably pretty different. Because this is one festival that is less about the tradition, and more about 'the man' getting drunk and belligerent and rambunctious.

Go ahead and read a little about it on Wikipedia (or other sites that google gives you) because they probably have some better photos (I am not a photographer, and would never claim even one good shot!) Wikipedia entry here: click.

Last year, I didn't go to my city's Naked Man festival, because I was in Korea with my good friend Anna. But this year, there was no keeping me from it. My school asked if I would like to participate, so I said "sure!" They told me to be at my school by 3p.m. No problem. Upon leaving my house, and waiting at the crosswalk, I have my first experience with the Naked Men. Here they are:

Now, why is it called Naked Men? Well, I have a feeling that over the centuries, the men started putting on more and more clothing, because death just isn't as cool anymore. In other Naked Man Festivals though, the men must jump in a freezing river before chasing a ball, or a person, or a stick. It changes a lot depending on how drunk the organizer gets on the day, I suppose.

Men in Hofu never look at me. They keep their heads down and try to do anything they can to avoid even glancing at me. But all was different on the 4th Saturday of November. As soon as they were clad in their white garments, and had probably had a half a dozen beers already, they were all about talking to me. Talking.....more like grunting and jumping up and down. Really. Men are crazy on this day.

So I met up with my school at 3p.m. Our school had its own portable shrine. It's a shrine that takes about 10 men to carry. Every school in Hofu, and every business, and every organization, basically builds a shrine. I'll only talk about our school for the convenience of trying to be clear. So our school got 10 sponsors. Small businesses donated to our school, somewhere in the vicinity of $300 to $500 dollars, I was told. So now, on this fateful Saturday afternoon, all the teachers at my school were there. Men clad in white, women in whatever- were all ready to go pay respects to these 10 businesses that supported our school.

Only men carry the shrine. The women walk behind, helping with the chant. So everywhere we walked, we chanted/screamed loudly. Kyoudai, Wasshai, Kyoudai, Wasshai!!!. Still can't get a hold on what it really means. The Kyoudai definitely means "brother", but the Wasshai is just like a scream of goodness....like "YEAH!". Or something. :) We get to one of the supporting businesses, and wait for the staff to come outside... then all hell breaks loose. My teachers carrying the shrine act like they just had an adrenaline shot into their heart and start screaming and running in circles, shrine in hand.

This goes on at various locations, until it is time to travel up to the main shrine in town, up on one of our mountains. Remember, that there are over 100 portable shrines meandering all around the city, and to all the businesses. So when they converge on the main shrine, there is quite a traffic jam.

The hundreds of steps leading up to the shrine are lined with on-lookers, cheering each shrine on it's way up. But it's not any normal ascension. Each "team" such as team "my school" get a mark, a set, and a go....and they have to RACE THE HELL up like their lives depend on it. Holding a huge shrine on their backs. Drunk. When they reach the top, they do one last crazy shaking and running-in-circle-of the shrine. I saw men having to be taken away in ambulances because it gets so rowdy and drunken. What is the point of all this? I'm still not sure. But I do love you, Japan.

I really hope that you watched and enjoyed these videos! But there's nothing like being there... :) See you guys later! I know I have a lot to catch up on.