Japan's annual naked festival 'Hadaka Matsuri'
Celebrates bountiful harvest
The festival, which celebrates the blessings of a bountiful harvest, prosperity and fertility, starts at around 3:20 pm local time with a separate event for young boys. It aims at fostering interest in younger generations.
Fundoshi
Thousands of people who participate in the annual festival are not exactly naked. They sport a minimal amount of clothing; usually, a Japanese loincloth called a "fundoshi" and a pair of white socks called "tabi."
Purification
In the evening, the men spend an hour or two running around the temple grounds in preparation and "purify" themselves with freezing cold water.
Shingi sticks
When the lights go out at 10 pm, a priest throws 100 bundles of twigs and two lucky 20-centimetre-long shingi sticks into the crowd from a window four meters above.
The 10,000 or so men, jostle with each other to get hold of one of the bundles and/or the two sticks.
Whoever succeeds is guaranteed a year of good fortune, according to legend.
Raucous crowd
The whole event lasts around 30 minutes. In an attempt to catch the shingi sticks, several worshippers injure themselves severely as they push each other and fall down the stairs of the temple.
They emerge with a few cuts, bruises and sprained joints.
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