The hadaka matsuri (裸祭り) is over 500 years old, and it has to be one of the most hilarious and fun festivals I have ever visited in Japan. It is held on the coldest weekend in February (on the third Sunday of the month.) Around 10,000 men take part in this festival, with even more people involved as spectators. The event culminates at 10pm when priests drop some shingi sticks into the crowd which all the men try to grab…
I’ve mentioned before how much I loooove visiting Japanese festivals. If you’re interested there are other posts about traditional festivals in Nara here. The Hounen Matsuri (豊年祭) or Penis festival, in Aichi, is one of the most fun events I ever attended in Japan. It was such a giggle! It is actually a fertility festival, so it’s not about worshipping willies. And it is held on the 15th of March every year. We attended back in 2008, when the event…
Yesterday I wrote a quick post about the super-fun festival I attended with some friends in Mitsue (in Nara Prefecture, Japan.) It made me think of the other really cool festival that I have attended, located just one village away in Soni. Nara is full of history (it was the capital before Kyoto, over 1300 years ago) so sometimes the Kanji names of places are pretty mad. Soni is no exception. If you want to find the village on google…
Oh deary me. Sometimes I have slightly dappy moments. Last weekend was my dad’s birthday and I had a brilliant time with my family, helping mum prepare a mountain of food, and then helping consume it all with family and friends. But I managed to leave my computer (with all my photos) back in the countryside. Oops. This means I don’t have all the photo files to finish my next post about the North Downs Way. So, instead, I thought…