This month’s adventure takes place in Kannon-in temple, Saidai-ji, Japan, the festival is held on the third Saturday in February.
Our Adventure will take place the Sunday before the Festival date.

Facts about the festival:

Naked Festivals are common (if a little overstated, since participants wear loincloths) throughout Japan in the early New Year but the most extraordinary is the one in the Kannon-in temple outside of Okayama. Taking place in the chilly depths of winter, Saidai-ji Eyō looks one part sumo, one part scrum and one part orgy, with thousands of near-naked men fighting for possession of two sacred shingi (wooden sticks), while freezing water is poured over them.
Fuelled by alcohol, fights and skirmishes are common (with only two 20cm-long shingi and 10,000 or so desperate men, the meek are not going to win this contest). An indicator of the intensity of the battle is the fact that the yakuza – Japan’s mafia – fields competitors in the event (look for the black loincloths and the blond hair). There’s also a decent chance of hypothermia – the average February minimum temperature in Okayama is around 1°C, which will seem rather chilly when you’re covered in icy water.
Saidai-ji Eyō’s origins date to the 16th century when, during Lunar New Year celebrations, priests were said to have thrown paper talismans into the crowds. As the years continued, and the paper talismans were being destroyed in the barney to claim them, they were replaced with the indestructible shingi.
Saidai-ji Eyō events begin at 6pm with a ‘naked man’ contest for primary school boys, scrambling and struggling in a prepubescent fight for such talismans as rice cakes and octagonal-shaped tubes. At 11pm the main combatants enter the temple where, at midnight, the lights are switched off and the shingi are thrown into the crowd – a bunch of sticks are thrown, but only two are authentic – which goes breast to breast, buttock to buttock in the frenzy to get hold of them. Many of the loincloth-laden do get a hand on the sticks, but that’s only an invitation to be savaged. To claim victory, and supposedly a year of good fortune and happiness (the prize money helps with the former), the sticks must be delivered back to the temple gates.

Essentials: have some warm clothes (and some insurance) ready for after the event. As a ‘foreigner,’ be prepared for the fact that you’re likely to be a particular target for violence even though you are a Super Hero, so staying in a group/team is a good idea.
Local attractions: in Okayama, Kōraku-en has been called one of the three most beautiful gardens in Japan.

XPets mission is to protect the prize money from the evil Mandarin, Saiko (pronounced psycho), who will attempt to steal the cash while his team of grotty geisha’s try to distract the contestants while they battle to get one of the two genuine sticks. While mayhem carries on Saiko will try to steal the prize money and shove in his loin cloth, yes an old Beckham trick.
So our task is to find the dude with the biggest bulge in his budgie smugglers and grab it because hopefully it will be the prize money and the winners of the festival fight will receive their ‘winnings’.
Simple enough for Super Heroes! But there’s a lot of near naked men taking part so be careful and make sure you’ve got Saiko by the ba… loin cloth and not a competitor. bol Being a Naked Festival your Super Hero’s outfit is optional!
See you there at 7pm GMT dudes!