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Japan allows women to participate in ’naked man’ festival for first time in its 1,250-year history
(www.independent.co.uk)
This is the best summary I could come up with:
A group of local women in Inazawa, in Japan’s Aichi prefecture, are all set to join the annual Hadaka Matsuri, held in February at the Konomiya shrine.
Men typically wear a minimal ensemble, consisting of a Japanese loincloth known as a fundoshi and a pair of white socks called tabi.
At a press conference recently, she said: “I’d like to pray for the safety of my family and for the people affected by the Noto peninsula earthquake [which struck Japan this month].
Mitsugu Katayama, an official of the organising committee told South China Morning Post: “We have not been able to hold the festival like we used to for the past three years because of the pandemic and, in the time, we received a lot of requests from women in the town to take part.”
As many rural communities face population decline due to young people migrating to cities for employment, towns are left predominantly inhabited by the elderly and infirm.
The need for increased participation in ancient traditions, regardless of gender, is seen as crucial to ensuring the continuation of cultural practices in the face of declining community populations.
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