Wet Japanese Naked Festival - Konomiya Hadaka Matsuri

Konomiya Hadaka Matsuri in Nagoya is a Japanese naked festival which could possibly be one of the oldest. This year it was certainly one of the wettest (with the exception of Dairokuten in Chiba where the participants directly jump in a muddy pond and start wrestling). The original purpose of the festival was to drive away a plague. Today it is performed to get rid of bad luck and bring about good luck and good harvests. One person is chosen to be the lucky symbol of the festival, the Shinotoko. The Shinotoko is completely shaven and unlike his fundoshi (loincloth) brethren, he is completely naked. The other participants chase him in an attempt to touch him in order to receive good luck. I was at the festival with fellow Youtubers Luciditi, CaliboyinJapan, and our host Gimmeabreakman. http://www.youtube.com/user/Luciditi http://www.youtube.com/user/CaliBoyinJapan http://www.youtube.com/user/gimmeabreakman Gimmeabreakman has been to this festival several times and has several great videos on it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vomojcrhYRQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLF2lKN3rSI I meant to interview him about the festival but by the end we were so wet and cold we just left without seeing the Shinotoko much to Luciditi's sorrow. We might appear in a coffee commercial BTW.