Naaaaked!
I am covered in scrapes. The lower half of my left calf is a deep, DEEP purple (like, 1984 Volvo-Purple!). My face is covered in red dots, NOT from acne but from burst capillaries. I am, in other words, a fucking mess. Why?
...because I ran in Okayama's Hadaka Matsuri (otherwise referred to as NAKED-MAN FESTIVAL!!)!
The Hadaka Matsuri of Saidaiji (which is a...temple? shrine? I'm not sure) in Okayama (I feel the need to specify because there are several such festivals that take place across Japan) is an annual ritual (I thiiiiink it's a Buddhist ritual? I feel shame as a Japanese major that I don't know for sure, but I also feel laziness and don't care enough to double-check) in which men of all ages wear a traditional garment known as a fundoshi run around, get cleansed by holy water, and gather round the temple, to wait. At midnight the priests drop bundles of sticks called "shingi" in the waiting crowd....then CHAOS ERUPTS! It's a mass brawl for the holy wood, which is actually NOT the dream-come-true that you'd think it would be! I think the number of sticks is...I don't know, like 10? For 1000+ guys? If anyone walks away with a shingi they're blessed with fertility for a year...but there are TWO extra-special shingi that are super-sacred, and if you get one of those you get, like, $5,000. Crazy, right? Right.
For anyone...ANYONE who thinks they know what "crowded" is...like, riding on a "crowded" train during rush hour, or having to deal with "crowded" streets, or moshing at a "crowded" concert...YOU DO NOT KNOW "CROWDED." While on our way they read to us some of the precautions runners ought to keep in mind: "When in the pit protect yourself by keeping your arms raised." I'm like wtf? Then I understood: if you don't have your arms straight up, they will be PINNED to your sides, completely immobile! It's THAT crowded.
At one point the crowd fell on me! I was trapped under a mountain of man-flesh... Honestly it was pretty scary, and I had a minor panic attack (this was the point where I burst those capillaries in my face and received the majority of the bruising and scrapes on me), but I'm counting myself lucky because one of the guys under me broke his arm! Yikes! Aside from that business I had an AWESOME time...but maybe nect year I'll just be a spectator?
Unfortunately I don't have any pics of me in a fundoshi...at least not close-up (guess that means I'll have to run next year too--just for the photo-op!). Here's a few shots from far-off...maybe you can find me if you look reeeeaally close?
...because I ran in Okayama's Hadaka Matsuri (otherwise referred to as NAKED-MAN FESTIVAL!!)!
The Hadaka Matsuri of Saidaiji (which is a...temple? shrine? I'm not sure) in Okayama (I feel the need to specify because there are several such festivals that take place across Japan) is an annual ritual (I thiiiiink it's a Buddhist ritual? I feel shame as a Japanese major that I don't know for sure, but I also feel laziness and don't care enough to double-check) in which men of all ages wear a traditional garment known as a fundoshi run around, get cleansed by holy water, and gather round the temple, to wait. At midnight the priests drop bundles of sticks called "shingi" in the waiting crowd....then CHAOS ERUPTS! It's a mass brawl for the holy wood, which is actually NOT the dream-come-true that you'd think it would be! I think the number of sticks is...I don't know, like 10? For 1000+ guys? If anyone walks away with a shingi they're blessed with fertility for a year...but there are TWO extra-special shingi that are super-sacred, and if you get one of those you get, like, $5,000. Crazy, right? Right.
For anyone...ANYONE who thinks they know what "crowded" is...like, riding on a "crowded" train during rush hour, or having to deal with "crowded" streets, or moshing at a "crowded" concert...YOU DO NOT KNOW "CROWDED." While on our way they read to us some of the precautions runners ought to keep in mind: "When in the pit protect yourself by keeping your arms raised." I'm like wtf? Then I understood: if you don't have your arms straight up, they will be PINNED to your sides, completely immobile! It's THAT crowded.
At one point the crowd fell on me! I was trapped under a mountain of man-flesh... Honestly it was pretty scary, and I had a minor panic attack (this was the point where I burst those capillaries in my face and received the majority of the bruising and scrapes on me), but I'm counting myself lucky because one of the guys under me broke his arm! Yikes! Aside from that business I had an AWESOME time...but maybe nect year I'll just be a spectator?
Unfortunately I don't have any pics of me in a fundoshi...at least not close-up (guess that means I'll have to run next year too--just for the photo-op!). Here's a few shots from far-off...maybe you can find me if you look reeeeaally close?
