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Konomiya Naked Festival
(Konomiya Hadaka Matsuri)
January 13 of the lunar calendar
Kounomiya Shrine
One of the most famous naked festivals in Japan and attracts approx. 200,000
to 300,000 spectators in each year.
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| Schedule |
Naoi-shinji, also known as "Hadaka Matsuri (naked festival) ",
started in the year 767A.D, the Nara Period.
This rite was founded on the fact that the governor of
Owari Province (presently Aichi Pref.)
visited the Owari Shosha Shrine ( Konomiya shrine )
to drive away evil spirits and calamities, because Emperor Shotoku
ordered all the kokubun-ji* to offer invocations to dispel plagues.
It is said that the form of the festival, a struggle to touch the Naoinin or Shin-otoko (man of god),
is reminiscent of the struggle in old times between the assemblage of lower-ranking
shinto priests called shanin and
contributors tried to catch and set up a man for naoinin (shin-otoko),
an unlucky poor man, who was unwilling to take the role.
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| Catch a naoinin (present shin-otoko) |
| click above for larger pictures |
| *These pictures are taken out of "Owari-Kokufu-Saiki"/ collection of Nishio-shi Iwase-bunko librely. *Please don't copy these pictures from this webpage directly. *If you would like to copy them, please contact Nishio-shi Iwase-bunko |
click↑
Originally naoinin was a kind of offering or sacrifice.
In the early morning of January 13th of the lunar calendar,
contributors of the shrine, armed with spears or swords
and taking tessho (sakaki tree branch with small bells, a talisman and a knife attached),
had attacked and caught a man who they met more than 4km
from the shrine in the lucky direction that year by accident.
They were indiscriminate when catching a man, except bushi(samurai), female,
children, priests and beggers.
The unlucky man was outraged and dragged off to the shrine.
Before daybreak the next morning following the festival,
naoinin carrying tsuchi-mochi¹ and a doll on his back was driven out
from the territory of the shrine.
1..tsuchi-mochi is made by a shinto priest on Jan. 11. It's a rice cake
stuffed and coated with ash
which was made from tsubute thrown to naoinin the preceding year
This violent function sometimes caused riots.
It is said that Oda Nobunaga (1534-1582) forbid people to hold this shinto
rite for three years.
In 1743, the government of the Owari Clan condemned the rite.
So from 1744 to 1867, there are no documents about Naoinin.
In the early Meiji period, since that rite was established among people,
and since they didn't have any special events like
this to hold in early spring, they combined the customs of paying homage
at shrines
in midwinter with the naked aspect.
This became the festival of the present day.
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Today, this festival is regarded as one of the three most popular naked
festivals in Japan.
(with Eyo of Saidaiji Temple in Okayama pref. & Tamaseseri of Hakozaki-gu
shrine in Fukuoka pref.)
This is also regarded as one of the three weirdest festivals in Japan.
(with Yoshida-no-himatsuri in Fujiyoshida C. Yamanashi pref. & Obi-Matsuri
in Shimada C. Shizuoka pref.)
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| Making of naoizasa | |||
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On the way to the shrine, they swing and turn around and sometimes
climb up a naoizasa pole.
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| Click above for a larger picture | Climb high, climb far ! | |
After they have carried the bamboo to the shrine, they wait for the appearance
of Shin-otoko.
No one knows when he will appear, but it is usually around 4:30 to 5:00
p.m.
On that day, the Shin-otoko is completely naked.
He is guarded by very tough ex-shin-otokos, because hundreds of naked men
surround him and try to touch him to get rid of misfortune for the new
year.
The Shin-otoko appears from the path in front of the shrine,
but it takes him more than 30 -40 minutes to reach the shrine
because of the huge crowd of naked men.
Cold water is showered over them again and again to scatter them away from
Shin-otoko,
and also to protect the naked men from being hurt by the violence of the
crowd.
Since this festival is held in a very cold season, water quickly
becomes steam moments after it is thrown.(Look at the picture on the top
of this page).
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| Click above for a larger picture | . | ||
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| Click above for larger pic..photo by Takeken |
The ages of 23 and 42 for men are "yaku-doshi" or the age of suffering from misfortune.
So, lots of people who are 23 and 42 years old participate in this festival
to touch Shin-otoko in order to get rid of their misfortune.
Of course any person except women can be naked men (hadaka-otoko) in this festival.
One day before the festival, between 1:00p.m. and 2:00 p.m.,
a set of huge rice cakes called O-kagamimochi (weighing 4 tons) are carried to Kounomiya Shrine.
One is 2.4m and the other is 2m in diameter and
the smaller one will be put on the bigger one.
The following day of the festival, the rice cake will be cut and given
to the people.
If you have pieces of this rice cake, you will have good health during
the summer.
You will probably be able to get it a few days after the festival.
| Schedule of the Naoi-shinji or Naked Festival | |||
| 2009 | Old Calendar | time | ceremony |
| Jan.27 | January 2 of the lunar calendar |
9:00 | Pillar Raising Ceremony (shimebashira tateshiki ) |
| 10:00 | Naoinin or shin-otoko Selection Ceremony (naoinin or shin-otoko senteishiki ) |
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| Jan.. 31 | January 6 of the lunar calendar |
10:00 | Washing rice for the 4-ton huge rice cake (O-kagamimochi kome-arai ) |
| Feb. 1 | January 7 of the lunar calendar |
6:00 | Making of ancient mirror -shaped rice cakes (O-kagamimochi mochitsuki ) |
| Feb.. 4 | January 10 of the lunar calendar |
17:00 | Naoinin (Shin-otoko) comes to stay in the shrine (naoinin sanroh ) |
| Feb. 5 | January 11 of the lunar calendar |
9:00 | Decorating the huge rice cake |
| 10:00- | Tsuchimochitsuki-shinji and hifu-shitatame |
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| Feb. 6 | January 12 of the lunar calendar |
13:00 | Offering of the 4-ton huge rice cakes |
| 19:00 | Choya-shinji |
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| Feb. 7 | January 13 of the lunar calendar |
15:00 |  Naoi-shinji ..... Naked Festival |
| Feb.. 8 | January 14 of the lunar calendar |
3:00 | Yo-Naoi-Shinji.....Night Naked Festival (This ritual has a history of more than 1200 years) |
| 8:00 | Cutting and distribution of the huge rice cakes |
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| Feb..11 | January 17 of the lunar calendar |
19:00 | Matoi-shinji |
| Feb. 15 | - | 9:30 | Naoi Chakai Japanese tea ceremony party |
Let's join the Naked Festival !
If you would like to participate in this festival as a naked man,
| please contact me via e-mail subject: konomiya |
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by January 31, 2009 (deadline)
Festival: February 7th (Saturday) 2009
( Jan.13th of the lunar calendar)
Expence
* entry fee: 2,000 yen
* special tabi (Japanese socks) with rubber sole: 800 yen to 1350 yen
* sarashi (bleached cotton cloth): 480yen to 600yen
I will buy your tabi and sarashi in advance if you don't have.
Please let me know your shoe size.
Details to participate
Konomiya Shrine
1-1-1 Konomiya, Inazawa city
TEL: 0587-23-2121
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* Take Meitetsu Nagoya Honsen line bound for Gifu from Meitetsu Nagoya
Sta.
Get off at Konomiya sta.
(about 13 min from Meitetsu Nagoya sta. by express)
3-min. walk
340 yen (one way)
Festivals in surrounding area
Festivals in Nagoya
Festivals in Japan
