Fun(doshi) man parade

Posted by Luna (Osaka, Japan) on 22 February 2009 in Lifestyle & Culture and Portfolio.

This weekend I headed southwestward with an ALT friend of mine to Okayama, a two and a half hour train ride from Osaka (by local train at least, which we took instead of the Shinkansen. It was also 3000 yen less. Saves a lot when you ride round-trip.)

Okayama is a city, but a small city of course compared to say, Osaka or Tokyo, yet still big enough to have its own tram system, extensive bus coverage, and be a major stop on the Shinkansen. This weekend at Saidaiji, a temple near Okayama, played host to hundreds upon hundreds of naked (well, not exactly) men donning fundoshi (white loin cloths, the kinds like sumo wrestlers wear) in a festival that has been going on for awhile known as the "Naked Man Festival."

Every year, hundreds of men participate in this festival, and even a few ALTs I know upon others who were JETs went out to strut their stuff in fundoshi - and got extremely cold while doing it.

The weather was pretty chilly. The seats my friend and I paid for were in the nosebleed section, but at least we could see the temple and stand dangerously upon railings while hanging on for dear life to wooden boards that shielded the public from view over the fountain where the men had to run to first and splash each other, giggling in delight upon reaching the freezing cold water and yelling things as "YOSHA YOSHA YOSHA" (or "F*CK YEAH! F*CK YEAH!" as I heard other men say) to purify themselves. They then would run to the temple and gather, awaiting for midnight when sticks would drop.

And what are these sticks, you ask? Why, from what I've been informed, there are sticks that are dropped from the top of the temple worth 1,000,000 yen. Only two of these lucky sticks are worth such an amount, while there other sticks dropped as well; fake ones, if you will.

So if you can imagine hundreds of wet men, all pressing against each other while standing and pushing each other, reaching toward the air trying to grab sticks and fighting for said sticks, going as far as even trying to push each other off the stairs or into wooden columns and things like that.. no innuendo intended.. it was that intense and insane.

There was even steam just rising from the warmth and craziness of it all.

I've never seen so many guy butts in my entire life..

snippet about this photoblog

This photoblog is mostly to cover my experiences and adventures on the JET Programme as an Osaka City ALT (Assistant Language Teacher) through photographs, from beginning to end. Check out the "about" section on the bottom of this page to find out more.

For my written blog, check out: http://little-chotto.blogspot.com

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