About 10, men came together for the annual "naked festival" at Saidaiji Temple in Okayama, on the island of Honshu in Japan on February 15, according to Reuters. At the festival, a Shinto priest tossed the stick — called a "shingi" — into the air, and the men then fought to claim it. The naked festival is officially known as "Hadaka Matsuri. CNN reports the festival, officially known as Hadaka Matsuri, goes back about years, when men at the temple would fight over paper talismans believed to bring good luck. While fighting for the shingi, the men wear just two garments: a traditional Japanese loincloth called a "fundoshi," and a pair of white socks, known as "tabi. The festival took place at Saidaiji Temple in Okayama, on the island of Honshu. Okayama's official tourism body states the festival has been designated an "Important Intangible Folk Cultural Asset," and is held each year on the third Saturday in February. Prior to the battle over the shingi, which took place about 10 p.


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The Festival
But this February, a prefecture in Japan, belied this stereotype, as thousands of men braved the cold for the 'Naked Festival'. They jostled in a packed enclosure to snatch one of two 20cm-long 'shingi' wooden sticks thrown by a priest into the crowd. All for good luck. And to make it more interesting, the priest throws these two twigs along with others.
What Do They Do?
In the evening, the men spend an hour or two running around the temple grounds in preparation and purify themselves with cold water, before cramming themselves into the main temple building. After an hour or two of running in the temple, everyone crams into the main building. The lights go out at 10 p. This is when the commotion begins.
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