These are photos of a spring Shinto ritual which is held annually at Inyaku-Shine in Yatsushiro, Kumamoto Prefecture. It is called Funatori Shinji or Catching Crusian-carp Ritual in which young men wearing only a red or white loin-cloth jump into a pond at the shrine, catch crusian carps, and throw them toward people who gather to watch the ritual. It is said that mud flung with carps at people will protect them from illness throughout the year. The boy shown here may live to one hundred. I enjoyed taking snap shots of the ritual together with many shutterbugs like me, while trying not to get muddy.
What a fun event...I think you are right about the boy having a guaranteed long life! Cute cute photos! They are NICELY composed PHOTOS...NOT snapshots! =)))
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