A steam of sweat rose as hundreds of naked men tussled over a bag of wooden talismans, performing a dramatic end to a thousand-year-old ritual in Japan that took place for the last time.
Their passionate chants of jasso, joyasa (meaning “evil, be gone”) echoed through a cedar forest in Iwate Prefecture, where the secluded Kokuseki Temple has decided to end the popular annual rite.
Organizing the event, which draws hundreds of participants and thousands of tourists every year, has become a heavy burden for the aging local faithful, who find it hard to keep up with the rigors of the ritual.
The Sominsai festival, regarded as one of the strangest festivals in Japan, is the latest tradition impacted by the country’s aging population crisis that has hit rural communities hard.
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Other temples across Japan continue to host similar festivals where men wear loincloths and bathe in freezing water or fight over talismans.
Some festivals are adjusting their rules in line with changing demographics and social norms so that they can continue to exist – such as letting women take part in previously male-only ceremonies.
Oh, thank you. This makes a lot of sense.
That was a little confused why they kept alternately emphasizing age and then wooden talismans
Yeah, I initially thought they meant the age of the participants was the reason this was ending (as running around in February in just a loincloth seems a young man’s game) but it seems that it is more to do with the aging population leading to there being no-one left to do all the groundwork beforehand (both religious and secular).