Culture Thousand-year-old Somin-sai festival held for the last time

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Kokusekiji temple decided to discontinue the event because participants were getting too long in the tooth. It also cited a shortage of successors who can carry on the tradition. Clad in nothing but a "fundoshi" loincloth, participants first carried square lanterns and purified themselves in the nearby Yamauchigawa River. They then went around the temple's Yakushido hall and prayed for a good harvest and other blessings before fighting over a sack made of hemp called "somin-bukuro" that contained small talismans. It is believed that whoever takes a talisman will then be protected from disaster. The festival made headlines in 2008 when the Oshu city government asked East Japan Railway Co. (JR East) to put up tourism posters of the Somin-sai festival at train stations and other locations. JR East refused on the grounds that images of near-naked men "could cause discomfort" to some people.

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Festival with 1,000-year history succumbs to graying population

Kokuseki Temple's Sominsai festival used to take place from the seventh day of Lunar New Year through to the following morning.

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