Only a country as awesomely twisted as Japan could dream up Hadaka Matsuri, aka the Naked Man Festival. Tomorrow night (somehow conveniently worked out to be the coldest night of the year) I will join thousands of brazen and foolish men in stripping down to a loincloth and running through the streets and fountains of Okayama. No pictures to follow this one, but here's what The Walrus has to say about the festivities:
"Chalk it up to cultural differences, but in Japan, throwing on a loincloth with a bunch of the guys, getting drunk on sake, and trying to touch a naked man makes you more pure. For centuries, men in Inazawa City have spent this day pursuing the Shin-Otoko, or Naked Man, who absorbs the bad luck and evil deeds of those who touch him. The person chosen as Shin-Otoko must shave his entire body, then walk through the town to the Kounomiya Shrine followed by thousands of drunken men desperate to grab, slap, or squeeze any bit of flesh they can. For the Naked Man, bruising, fainting, and moments of acute self-consciousness are not uncommon."
If that's not a great idea, I don't know what is.
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