About 40 men in shorts or loincloths, completely covered in mud, battle to grab a 15-meter-long piece of bamboo attached to a large round fan in the sacred rice paddies of the Izawanomiya shrine in Shima, Mie Prefecture, on Saturday. The Shinto ritual, called “Taketori shinji,” is part of the Otaue Matsuri festival to pray for bountiful harvests.
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The Yomiuri Shimbun