Less than a week after the craziness of my first naked man festival experience, it came to my attention through a friend that there was another, similar event, taking place shortly. Opting to act this time as a purely a spectator (alomst), I headed over to the festival site, which was not far from my place, to check things out.

The name of this festival was the "Kinekosa Festival", or, as we came to call it, the "Pushing out the devils festival" or "Spankfest" (a term coined by my friend Tom). The annual tradition went a little something like this: 11 men and 2 boys (all of particular ages) are selected to participate; they wear loincloths similar to those from the previous festival, except with the addition of a matching coat. Accompanied by varioius preists, police and a crowd of onlookers, they march towards the river carrying a long bamboo pole/tree. Upon reaching the river they keep going until they are about waist deep (keep in mind that rivers in Japanese cities are not top spots for swimming, get a load of the colour of this one and you'll see why). At a certain point they then do the whole "stand the pole up and climb it" routine; this year there was a slight mishap, as the tree succumbed to the weight of the climbers and snapped clear in half. Following their swim, the men and boys jog to the local shrine and join a procession of preists, drummers and officials, all dressed in various tradition costumes. They even parade around a giant rice cake. Once they had reached the shrine there was some drumming and music, which was followed by the main event (this is where the spanking comes in).

In an ancient Japanese tradition meant to push away devils and evil spirits, the crowd gathers in a large circle and the costumed people enter its centre. Using various props, most notably a huge boom-stick that looks like a giant toilet plunger, one group of men runs at the crowd (specifically at a group of men in special suits) pushing them out of the circle with their weapons. This goes on for a good half hour, and also includes the main group's sidekicks walking throughout the crowd spanking the onlookers with differnt paddles, sticks and such. No one is spared, and we were no exception. Here's a taste:

In spite of talking to some of the event attendants and having an unofficial tour guide who adopted us as his patrons (even though he spoke almost no English), we couldn't quite figure out the point of the whole thing. It was probably just another age old tradition rooted in something that no one really remembers, but still celebrates, just because. Either way, it was an interesting experience.