(CNN) – This time, a year ago, thousands gathered for Japan’s annual Hadaka Matsuri – also popularly known as the “Naked Festival” – in Okayama Prefecture, on the southern part of Honshu Island.
In the current climate of social detachment, the video highlights from last year’s event (see above) are a surreal reminder of how much has changed since then.
Also known as Saidaiji Eyo, Hadaka Matsuri takes place on the third Saturday of February at Saidaiji Kannonin Temple, about 30 minutes by train from Okayama city. And this year was no exception.
But the Covid-19 pandemic has cast its long shadow over the 2021 procedures, forcing organizers to reduce things significantly.
A battle between 10,000 men
Hadaka Matsuri celebrates the blessings of an abundant harvest, prosperity and fertility.
In normal times, it starts in the middle of the afternoon with an event for boys – which aims to arouse the interest of the younger generations. At night, the approximately 10,000 male participants spend an hour or two running around the temple grounds, preparing and purifying themselves with ice water, before huddling in the main temple building.
They are not as naked as the festival’s name suggests. They wear a minimal amount of clothing; usually a Japanese thong called “fundshi” and a pair of white socks called “tabi”.
In this photo taken on February 18, 2017, worshipers expect the priest to throw the sacred canes during the annual Hadaka Matsuri at the Saidaiji Temple in Okayama.
BEHROUZ MEHRI / AFP / AFP via Getty Images
When the lights go out at 10 pm, a priest throws 100 bundles of sticks and two 20-inch-long sacred shingi sticks into the crowd from a window four meters above.
It is a scene that would be unthinkable today. The men, packed like sardines, jostle to grab one of the bales and / or the two sticks. Whoever succeeds has guaranteed a year of good luck, says the legend. (Shingi are more popular than less coveted branches, which can be taken home.)
The whole event lasts about 30 minutes and the participants come up with some cuts, bruises and sprains in the joints.
Visitors usually come from all over Japan and some from abroad to participate.
But event organizers confirmed to CNN Travel that this year’s Hadaka Matsuri event, which took place on February 20, was limited to just a select, socially distant group of about 100 men who caught shingi in recent years and was closed to spectators .
Instead of fighting for batons, men gathered at the Saidaiji Kannonin Temple to pray for fertility, an end to the pandemic and world peace, while observing security measures, including social distance.
Uninterrupted for 500 years
As part of the Naked Festival, participants purify themselves with ice water before entering the main temple.
Trevor Williams / Getty Images AsiaPac / Getty Images
Why not cancel the entire event?
In a statement highlighting their reasons for moving forward with a severely shortened version of the festival, organizers noted that it has continued uninterrupted for more than 500 years.
“In discussion with the chief priest and the committee members, we have come to the conclusion that we need to pray (for) Eyo now,” said Saijaiji Eyo President Minoru Omori. Eyo refers to a term called “ichiyo-raifuku”, which means “to endure the cold and harsh winter and to reach the warmth of spring”.
“In other words, we pray for good luck after continual bad things,” said Omori.
The Naked Festival evolved from a ritual that began 500 years ago during the Muromachi Period (1338-1573), when villagers competed to pick up paper talismans, which were given by a priest at the Saidaiji Kannonin Temple.
More and more villagers wanted those lucky paper talismans and the ritual grew in size. But they realized that when they went to get the paper, it tore. Their clothes also got in the way, so they ended up dismissing them and exchanging paper for wood, explained Mieko Itano, spokesman for the Okayama tourism board, in a 2020 interview with CNN Travel.
With its long heritage, the festival was also designated an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Asset in 2016. It is one of several “nude festivals” held across Japan, with another held in Yotsukaido, Chiba Prefecture, with men in thongs fighting and carrying children in the mud as a method of exorcism.
Japan and Covid-19
Daily cases of Covid-19 have declined in recent weeks in Japan, although Tokyo is among several prefectures in a state of emergency to control the virus. The country has reported more than 424,000 cases of Covid-19 and more than 7,000 deaths.
The pandemic forced organizers to postpone the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games last year, with games scheduled to begin on July 23, 2021.