A few weeks ago, a group of friends and I went out to see the Naked Man Festival at Konomiya, which is to the west of Nagoya. The entire purpose of the festival is purification. Reserved only for men, young and old, they strip down to traditional loin clothes and walk down the main street of Konomiya to the festival, all while carrying these large poles, rocking to the left and right of the street, chanting and often stopping ones to raise the pole into a vertical position. Some of which men like to climb.

To stay warm, they drink massive amounts of sake, all while having it actually tossed on them by the bucket-full. All the while, a few days beforehand, a chosen ‘Naked Man’ has entered the temple. He is the only man to be actually naked during the festival, to the point of having his body completely shaven. By evening, all of the thousands of men try to touch the naked man, who is given the ability of taking in all the bad spirit and luck from the men who touch him. People end up fighting over him, bruising him, making him faint, the works. After the 30 minutes or so of this, the man leaves the town, taking the evil with him. 

So that’s all what the participants in the festival do. For everyone else, it’s a regular sort of affair of buying festival food and watching. The men walking by are also given brightly colored swaths of cloth that are easily ripped. On-lookers are given the chance to rip away strips of this cloth. The more you get, the more luck you will have for the coming year.

All in all, it was a very fun experience. We were gawked at by many people because of course, ‘what are foreigners doing in a place like this?’ One of our party got kissed on the cheek to bits by drunk Japanese men, and I had a man attempt to try a secret handshake with me, and another who tried to jump on me. Many colorful strips of cloth were collected, and I can only hope this luck will stick with me for a little while. I think one of my favorite parts was finally being able to see Yakuza. It was honestly surreal seeing men completely tattooed along their backs, especially men who I’ve only read about in books.

Here’s to the next lovely experience in Japan.

Location: Konomiya, Aichi, Japan