On naked men

Who doesn't love nudity? Japan certainly does. Here, there are a lot of festivals that you can't really imagine being allowed to continue in the UK - there are many where people run through fire, slide down mountains or other activities that could easily end in death or a severe maiming. Also, there are many festivals which involve local men getting extremely drunk while wearing loincloths.

Hadaka Matsuri - literally 'naked festival' - covers both these categories. Groups of men tour through the city wearing nothing but modesty rags, handing out ribbons, downing cartons of sake or, in a couple of cases, getting furious over some grudge or perceived insult and starting fights with each other (I'm not sure which of these are traditional activities, and which were improvised later). Towards the end of the day, one man - the pre-designated "Man of God", who has shaved his head and purified his body in preparation - goes out into the crowds, completely naked, and makes his way to the shrine. All the other men attempt to touch him, as doing so is said to prevent bad luck for the rest of the year.

This year was a rainy one. The path to the shrine is basically dirt, so the crowds of men - including some young boys - were trudging through mud in bare feet. Some had sandals which were soaked and weighed down with liquid dirt. It doesn't look pleasant, to be honest, so the booze and fights sort of make sense. My friend and I got cold and wet so we only stayed for a few hours, which was plenty of time to collect a bunch of ribbons ad good-luck hair-ruffles from the guys (as foreigners we clearly stood out). Unfortunately we couldn't really see the "Man of God" himself because he gets so surrounded by all the other men (and often ends up with a lot of injuries), and left soon after he arrived because the cold had crept up on us so badly.

Overall, would recommend. 8/10 for novelty, 7/10 for nudity.