Loin-clothed Japanese men, some with babies in their arms, frolic in the mud in a festival dedicated to the gods of the rice fields.
The "hadaka matsuri", or "naked festival", is a ritual held annually at Mimusubi shine in Yotsukaido, east of Tokyo, to pray for a good harvest and fortune.
Dating back centuries, the festival is believed to have been a way farmers prepared themselves physically for the planting season, after having spent most of the winter indoors.
Chika Osaka reports.
