Disappointed in the lack of puns about sagging interest or shrinking populations etc.
this post was submitted on 19 Feb 2024
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Good to see you picking up the slack.
Aw nuts!
... I'll see myself out...
Hope they don't sack the whole thing
Huh?
So a monk responsible for organizing the event cites how difficult the work is behind the scenes to set up the ceremony?
But the last line in the article quotes someone saying that because the population is getting older, maybe Japan needs to change their rituals since they aren't working.
I wonder what work is so difficult or intensive to set up, like the blessing of the wooden talismans that they give out?
I wonder what work is so difficult or intensive to set up, like the blessing of the wooden talismans that they give out?
The monk suggests that the final event is the culmination of a lot of rituals, which clearly takes time and effort but I imagine they aren't getting many young recruits at a rural temple. There have been numerous news articles about how rural towns and villages becoming hollowed out as all the young people move to the cities - I believe there's one where a local woman is knitting replacement inhabitants.
They quote a participant in saying he is hoping to keep it going in some form, presumably one that is a little more secular, so you get the tourist yen (which must be a big boost to the local economy) without all the praying beforehand.
Oh, thank you. This makes a lot of sense.
That was a little confused why they kept alternately emphasizing age and then wooden talismans
Yeah, I initially thought they meant the age of the participants was the reason this was ending (as running around in February in just a loincloth seems a young man's game) but it seems that it is more to do with the aging population leading to there being no-one left to do all the groundwork beforehand (both religious and secular).
Loads of things need organising for a large event, like toilets (including waste retrieval), registration?, volunteers, security/policing, permits, advertising?, food court?, litter control, etc, etc
Try organising a large scale event sometime and you'll understand. There's a lot of effort needed to make things go smoothly
Have done, don't understand which rituals are so intensive, hence the question.
This is the same Naked Man festival that only this year decided to allow women limited participation. Interesting timing of that. [https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/lifestyle-culture/article/3249412/1250-years-japans-naked-man-festival-bars-women-until-now-they-cant-go-full-monty]
Feels an awful lot like the episode of Bojack where reasonable gun control got passed only because women started carrying guns everywhere to feel empowered.
This is the same Naked Man festival that only this year decided to allow women limited participation.
No, they are allowing women at the festival at the Konomiya Shrine, in Inazawa, in Aichi prefecture where they actually have to touch a naked man. That is in a couple of days on the 22nd.
At the end of that article, they mention a Fire Festival also allowing women and then the festival the article is about in the final paragraph but only that this is the final year it is occurring, not that they are allowing women.