Saidaiji Eyo Hadaka Matsuri

Saidaiji Eyo, or Hadaka Matsuri, is Okayama's Naked Festival, held the third Saturday of February at Saidaiji Kannon-in Temple with roots over 500 years old. Roughly 10,000 men wearing only loincloths compete in darkness to grab two sacred shingi sticks tossed by priests, an act believed to bring a year of luck, in a ritual designated a National Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property in 2016.

Held each year on the third Saturday of February at Saidaiji Kannon-in Temple in Okayama, the ritual known as Saidaiji Eyo, or more popularly as Hadaka Matsuri, the Naked Festival, carries a documented history stretching back more than 500 years, with some accounts tracing its roots even further to a tradition of over 1,250 years associated with the temple's broader ceremonial calendar.