Naked Worshipping
(Kaminoma Hadakamairi)

Photo courtesy of Mihamacho Kanko Kyokai

January 1st
From Midnight Until the Break of Dawn

This local event started at the end of the Edo period.

On December 31 around 7:00 or 8:00p.m., each group organized with 3 to 5 local young men called wakaishuu,
who are 16(after graduating junior high school) to 22 years old in kimono,
visit host homes called (o)yado which have a 42 year-old yakudoshi man.
They have formal greetings with family members and helpers.
They take a rest or take a nap there. (Some hosts make beds for them.)

When the New Year has almost arrived, joya-no-kane of Daisen-ji (temple) starts to be gonged
and vibrates through the Kaminoma district.
After 12:00a.m. on New Years Day, host families serve them (o)zouni.
Then they take a bath with very warm water to make their body hot
and rush out of the house without clothes.
(Because of the instruction of the police, people start to wear sarashi since some years ago)
Approximatery 20 to 40 stark naked young men streak
from the each host home to Noma Fishing Port (Noma Gyoko).
All the naked men meet together there around 1:00a.m.(depending on the year)
Then they cleanse themselves in the sea.
The act of cleansing is called misogi.
After that, they return to each host house.
Host families make a bonfire in the garden and welcome them.
They have a bath again.
They then wear loinclothes (fundoshi), headbands and sashes made of bleached cotton cloth.
They also wear waraji, bleached cotton belts with bells (called fuurin) and shimenawa.
Some of them have dippers(hishaku) and wooden tubs (teoke).

In the Edo period they had short sword to protect themselves.
Then they toured seven temples and shrines to pay their respects as they sang "Ise Ondo".


They arrive at Noma Jinja (Noma Shrine) around 2:00a.m. to 3:00a.m.
They sit around a big bonfire and sing "Ise-ondo".
They have a lot of fun there.
All the naked men meet and take a photo
.
They finish the worship tour and return to their host homes
before daybreak (around 4:30a.m.).

They stay at the host home.
After they wake up, they have a New Year's banquet there.
The host families welcome and give them the full treatment,
because they are substitutes for the men of yakudoshi in the families.

*****

A group organized with 25 year-old men (they are also on yakudoshi) sometimes participate.
It is said that this custom started between 1965-1975.

*****

Shichido-mairi
(seven times worshipping)

Instead of 25 or 61year-old men, children who are 3 to 14 year-old tour seven temples and shrines
two or three times (formally seven times) from 12:00a.m. on New Years Day.
They have Japanese dippers (hishaku) and wooden tubs (teoke).
This is a relic of the bygone age.
In the Edo period, children also cleansed in the sea, and took the sea water
to the temples and shrines to offer.

They wear special costumes.


*****

(This event will be canceled in bad weather)

access
Get off at Kaminoma Sta. on the Meitetsu Line.
Walk 10-15 min.
(Walk 5 min. to the West, you will find Noma Shrine/Noma Jinja)
***
Take Minami-Chita Yuryo-Doro.
Get off at Mihama interchange.
Take the direction to Kaminoma at the exit.
Drive 3km (1.9 miles) approximatery 20 min.
1hr.15min. from Nagoya