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Konomiya Jinja Shrine’s Naked Festival

HOME > Japan’s Local Treasures > Konomiya Jinja Shrine’s Naked Festival

Baring all at Konomiya Jinja Shrine’s annual winter festival

Aichi Prefecture

Every year in the freezing cold of February or and early March, thousands of men wearing only white cotton loincloths and headbands gather at Owari Okunitama Jinja Shrine, locally known as Konomiya Shrine, to perform the Hadaka Matsuri (‘Naked Festival’). This festival has been held since 767 in Inazawa City, Aichi Prefecture to dispel evil spirits and disease.

Every year, a young local man is chosen as a “Shin Otoko,” another name for Naoinin, who bears people's misfortune and impurity. He manages to make his way along the approach to the shrine while the participants desperately try to touch him. It is believed that if they are lucky enough to touch the Shin Otoko, evil spirits will be banished from them, and they will be brought good fortune.

In the crowd of men dressed in loincloths, the Shin Otoko can barely be seen. He struggles to return to the shrine, being touched by hundreds of festival participants. When he finally returns to the shrine, the Shin Otoko carries all the sins and bad luck that the others have transferred to him. He is then driven out of town, taking all the bad luck bestowed upon him as he goes, after offering a final prayer at the shrine.

The festival falls on January 13 of the lunar calendar each year, so the date changes every year, but it always falls in February or early March. For more information, see the Aichi Tourism website below.

How to get there

Take a train from Nagoya Station to Konomiya Station on the Meitetsu Nagoya Main Line (about 10 minutes). The shrine is a 3-minute walk from the north exit.

1-1-1 Konomiya, Inazawa-shi, Aichi-ken