JAPAN: Naked men get down and dirty in the mud to ask God for good fortune in Japan

Record ID: 465303

  • Title: JAPAN: Naked men get down and dirty in the mud to ask God for good fortune in Japan
  • Date: 27th February 2009
  • Summary: MAN SMEARING MUD ON CHILDREN
  • Embargoed: 14th March 2009 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Japan
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVADC9YODLI9KJCEE7KL6IZ3T8VH
  • Story Text: Loin-clothed Japanese men, some with babies in their arms, frolic in the mud in a festival dedicated to the Gods of the rice fields.
    Dozens of Japanese men got down to their loin-cloths this week on the outskirts of Tokyo, ready to get dirty in the mud at the traditional "naked festival".
    Despite the near-freezing weather, men wore nothing but a strip of cloth as they jumped into a rice paddy with a puddle of cold water and mud before the spring planting season.
    What began as a friendly game quickly disintegrated into a mud throwing battle with many jostling each other in the wet dirt.
    The "Hadaka Matsuri", or "naked festival" is an ancient ritual to pray for good harvest and good fortune. It is held annually at Mimusubi shine in Yotsukaido, east of Tokyo.
    Women traditionally do not participate in this festival except as spectators.
    While most mothers may disagree, taking a dip in a freezing mud bath during this festival is expected to be good for you.

    "It feels great! I can now live another year in good health,"
    Yuta Hatori, a 32-year-old participant, told Reuters.
    In the hopes of spreading blessings, several mud-covered men chased screaming on-lookers as they smeared mud on their faces.
    Some, like 87-year-old Miwako Ogawa, were delighted to be part of the mud fight.

    "I'm fully blessed! Mud on this side means I can live longer. Mud on another side means I won't get sick," said Ogawa. "I'm 87 now, but I'll come here every year again as long as I'm alive!"
    Grown-up men weren't the only ones playing in the mud. Newborn babies, blessed in the nearby shrine and carefully anointed with mud on their faces with the tip of a rice plant, culminated the festivities.

    "With this blessing, I'm hoping my daughter will live long in good health," Mayumi Takemaru, mother of one participating baby, told Reuters.
    While dating back to ancient days, this naked festival is believed to have been a way farmers prepared themselves physically for the planting season after having spent most of the winter indoors.
    Each year, the event attracts nearly 3000 visitors from all across Japan and abroad.
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