Shitennoji Temple Doya-Doya festival
The Shusho-e is an age-old New Year’s prayer ritual for national peace and abundant harvests. The event occurs each year on New Year’s Day over at Shitennoji Temple, the head temple of the Washu sect founded by Prince Shotoku. The event culminates on January 14th with the distinctive “Doya-Doya,” famously known as Osaka’s only naked festival.
I was a Canadian exchange student attending Seifu Gakuen back in 1985 -1986. I participated in the Doya-Doya festival along with my other classmates. You would think that on January 14 with the temperature hovering around 0 Celsius, that the participants would be cold, especially after they are dosed with splashes of water. I remember it was actually not that cold, because of the ( march ) slow jog through the streets. After the ceremony was over they revealed to me why we were doing the festival, where it all made sense. It was a great time and Seifu was enjoyable for me even though it took close to 6 months to start to understand more and more Japanese each day.