AN EVENT that's run for over 1,000 years at the secluded Kokusekiji Temple in Japan was held for the last time last weekend, becoming the latest Japanese tradition to fall victim to the country's ageing population crisis.
In near-freezing winter temperatures and wearing nothing but white loincloths, throngs of men wrestle one another in a bid to claim a talisman during the country's Somin-sai festival, more famously known as the "naked man festival".
In an online post, organisers of the festival conceded they had been unable to find enough willing young participants to alleviate the pressures placed on ageing locals who are unable to keep up with the demands of the ritual, reported CNN Travel.
"This decision is due to the ageing of individuals involved in the festival and a shortage of successors," Daigo Fujinami, Chief Priest of the Kokusekiji Temple, commented on the shrine's website.
Japan's population has been in steady decline since its economic boom of the 1980s, with a fertility rate of a low 1.3.
The winner of the scramble for a bag of talismans blessed by the chief priest was Kikuchi Toshiaki, 49, a resident and member of the festival's preservation association.
"It is sad that the festival is ending," said Toshiaki.
"I participated in hopes that it would be a memorable festival," he commented.
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