"すき腹にまずいものなし"

japanese proverb

By 默默富酷

October 14^th, 2018

h'angry

"すき腹にまずいものなし" - hunger is the best sauce - this isn't directly related to the ohara naked festival (大原はだか祭り). i skipped breakfast in tokyo and took the 2+ hour journey east-side towards ohara, only to find that the sleepy town has minimal food options for brunch, even on a festival day.

no yoshinoya, mos burger or any おばちゃん selling home-made plum onigiri. the only choice was a tiny supermarket selling local produce. i wasn't in the mood to buy a bag of sweet potatoes to grill so i settled for a bowl of instant noodles. the packaging on my styrofoam ramen meal promised instant pleasure of tonkotsu soup, charsiu and slurp-able noodles. the hot water dispenser wasn't flowing with boiling liquid and that messed up my bowl.

brunch was a disaster and it wasn't a good start.

i was all hyped up for a festival promising naked people and the lack of food robbed part of the joy away. but my mood picked up quickly when i met this guy and his geriatric entourage who offered me his festival fan and beer.

about the nude fest

despite the name, this isn't a modern woodstock where hippies run around naked, play guitar and smoke weed. the ohara naked festival (大原はだか祭り) is a 300 year tradition where the local town folks celebrate the summer's good rice and seafood harvest. the men, and women, wear 股引 (momohiki or loincloth) - there weren't any boobs, but plenty of moobs - just saying, in case you are into that.

it is held every year on 23-24 september.

the festival involved groups of men carrying mikoshi around the town - the key highlights were the gathering at the fishermen harbor and the shiofumi (汐ふみ).

but my highlight though was the bag of karaage chicken which i scored after that instant bowl of disappointment.

harbor: waiting

i had no idea where the festivities were held, and any flyers that i could lay my hands on were in japanese. so the only viable option was to just follow a japanese girl who looked like she was also here to photograph the event. i lost her mid way as my athletic prowess was on a different timezone. fortunately, i managed to find the harbour.

there was a lot of waiting before all the mikoshi arrived. the most popular activity it seemed during this slack time, was making photos of little kids dressed in their momohiki.

harbor: arrival

harbor: dancing

the peak involved a lot of dancing, singing and throwing the mikoshi into the air. just like me when i am drunk.

harbor: waiting I

harbor: waiting II

harbor: finally leaving

pacific ocean

the peak is the shiofumi (汐ふみ) where all the mikoshi were carried into the pacific ocean.

pacific ocean II

street i

at 530 pm, the event nears a close at the owakareshiki which occured at the main street of the town. there were lots of drinking and snacking while waiting for the final parade towards the town's primary school.