In 1510 the faithful stripped off to fight over a monk's amulets: and so the rite was born.
At midnight, after fourteen days of prayer, two sticks of sacred wood (宝木, shingi) are thrown as a pair from the window of the temple's main hall into the loincloth-clad crowd: whoever grabs them and brings them to the priest receives a year of good fortune. For three weeks beforehand, the sticks are gathered and carved in a separate rite; on the night of the festival thousands of bare-chested men crowd together shouting ‘wasshoi, wasshoi’ as they wait for the throw.
Tradition traces its origin to 1510, when the monk Chūa handed out protective amulets at the end of the shushū-e purification rite, and the faithful took off their clothes to fight over the amulets with their bare hands. It is designated an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property. Men from junior high school age upwards may take part, provided they have no tattoos and have not drunk alcohol; there is also a version for younger participants, the ‘boys' naked festival’.
ℹ️ The temple can be visited 9:00–16:00. The festival is held every year on the third Saturday of February, with the scramble for the sticks at midnight. After a serious accident at the February 2026 edition (two of the participants involved in the scramble for the sticks died), the organising association is considering three scenarios for 2027 (holding it as usual, suspending it, or dropping only the scramble for the sticks), with a decision to be announced by October 2026: check the status before planning a visit to the 2027 edition.
🚉 Saidaiji · 14 min walk
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