The Festival of the Naked Men

On Saturday, thousands of semi-naked Japanese men turned up to the Saidaiji Temple in Okayama in order to catch a pair of sticks thrown from a balcony. This is the naked man festival, or Hadaka Matsuri, and it is yet another example of why the world is a wonderful, diverse place. Why do these men fight so hard to catch a pair of sticks? Because the sticks are lucky. Why are they lucky? Because they’ve been blessed by priests. Why are the men naked? I have absolutely no idea.

This is not the only example of weird and wonderful festivals from around the world. Why, we don’t need to look much further than the cheese rolling festival in Gloucestershire, where men chase down a hill trying to catch a cheese and the prize is to walk away without breaking anything, or the bizarre British festival of bonfire night, where young children are encouraged to burn a stuffed effigy ‘alive’ on a bonfire, before ending the night with the simulated blowing up of parliament, or fireworks as this is frequently called.

Clive James used to present a show called Clive James on Television, where he presented unusual and entertainingly different television shows from around the world. Of course, this was in the days before we had Satellite TV or the internet, so couldn’t simply hack a proxy and watch them ourselves. The result was astounding. Our original stereotype of the Japanese as stern and obsessed by protocol was turned on its head as we watched them taking part in ridiculous game shows where they would try to score points by dressing up in velcro and hurling themselves physically at giant targets, or see who could spend the longest sitting in a bath of iced water. Our view of the French as being aloof and obsessed with sex was… largely confirmed but at least they were able to laugh about it.

What was special about James’ show, was that he presented this all with an air of wonder and delight. Despite his cynical tone, he never mocked. Re-watch the show now and you note the number of times he will describe a clip as wonderful or delightful. Others may have seen the show as a statement of how great British TV was, and how awful everyone else’s, but Clive James seemed to revel in the oddity. This was not bad TV – it was different TV and he celebrated its diversity.

Globalisation may have removed most of the barriers that created this. Many of the shows that he featured were subsequently imported or remade over here, meaning that the diversity he celebrated simply became different facets of the same picture, like Burger King serving Royale with cheese in Paris.

But cultural oddity is still there to be celebrated if you know where to look for it.

So whether it be jostling with naked men in Okayama, pelting each other with tomatoes in Valencia, or listening to an underwater music festival in the Florida Keys, diversity is out there.

The only thing that remains is to go out there and grab it.