okay, here's the deal...this year drew 6,000 men to the festival. apparantly, back in the late 700's, a shingon sect of monks held a 14-day prayer for a bountiful farm-season. batons were given out to town elders to guarantee a good season. as the years passed, so too did the desire for these lucky sticks (shingi). soon the competition was so fierce for them that men were ripping the clothes off one another to get the precious shingi; thus the naked festival was born and took modern-day form sometime in the 19th century. pics were tough, but above you can see us squeezed into the saidai-ji temple waiting for midnight and the release of the shingi...