One of Japan’s most extreme traditional festivals is under scrutiny after a crowd crush left three men unconscious, renewing safety concerns around the 500-year-old ritual long associated with danger.
Organisers acknowledged that the severity of the injuries was unprecedented and warned that it could threaten the festival’s continuity in its current form.
The incident occurred on Saturday at the Saidaiji Kannonin Temple in Okayama city during Hadaka Matsuri, also known as Saidaiji Eyo or the “naked festival”, when almost 10,000 men wearing only loincloth packed into the darkened main hall to grab sacred wooden sticks believed to bring good fortune.
Six participants collapsed in the melee and were hospitalised. Three later regained consciousness while three remained unconscious, according to local media.
Emergency crews used defibrillators and cardiac massages at the scene before transferring the injured men to hospital.
A witness reportedly described the chaos saying they saw “naked people falling in an avalanche”.
“We pray for the recovery of those taken to hospital and our first priority will be to investigate the cause of the accident,” Minoru Omori, the chairperson of the Saidaiji Eyo Support Association, was quoted as saying by Sanyo News. “After that, we would like to consider revising the rules.”
Authorities suspect the crush began when the lights were switched off and the sticks were thrown, triggering a frantic surge in the confined space, NHK reported.
The festival, officially recognised as an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Property, has a history of serious accidents, including fatalities in 1987 and 2007.
Ahead of the ritual, participants undergo purification by taking dips in freezing water. They then crowd into the temple hall to await the Shingi – sacred wooden talismans – hurled from an upper level. Once the lights are extinguished, the scented sticks are flung into the mass of bodies below, setting off a frantic struggle as thousands grope in the darkness – guided in part by the fragrance infused into the wood.
