It is the annual Hadaka Matsuri of Saidaiji Temple in Okayama, Japan. In case you're wondering, "hadaka" means "naked" and "matsuri" means "festival" -- therefore it is the "naked festival" even when many people appear to be wearing some type of diaper.
A few of the 9,000 men who taken part in the 2010 Hadaka Matsuri in the Saidaiji Temple in Okayama, Japan, get ready for the festivities.
It's known as the "naked festival," but in reality nobody actually gets completely naked. They wear these sumo-style loinclothes -- aka diapers -- because they fight for lucky sticks tossed in to the crowd of man-flesh by the temple priests.
The men that get the sticks get lucky. I mean, they become known as the "lucky men."
They do not actually get lucky, as far as I understand... but maybe they are doing.
What I'm saying is, that's not necessarily a part of the festival itself.
Also it all occur in the middle of the night time, based on the Japan Event Calendar.
Men at the Hadaka Matsuri at the Saidaiji Temple in Okayama, Japan get ready "purified" through the freezing cold Yoshii River before they are doing battle over lucky sticks.
The sticks are simply an inch and a half across and nearly 8 inches long, and they are thrown in to the crowd by a priest from the window 13 feet over the festivities.
As the men climb all over one another to try and grab the sticks, they shout "Wasshoi! Wasshoi!" that is kind of like "heave-ho, heave-ho."
Oh, and the lights are turn off because this happens AND the men are splashed with freezing cold water AND it takes place in the center of winter when it is already pretty darned cold out.
When a man grabs the sticks, it isn't over. They may be taken away -- rugby-style -- as the naked men keep fighting for them until the bitter end.
The one that finally gets to place the sticks right into a wooden box of rice gets to be called the "lucky man."
Part of his prize: a year of happiness, although I hear that's not actually guaranteed.
The event is considered one of the "three most eccentric festivals" of Japan, based on the Japan National Tourist Organization.
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