Hadaka-mairi: Silent, Naked Pilgrimage(In-outbound Sendai Matsushima inc.)

Hadaka-mairi (an event in which pilgrims parade through the streets of Sendai to visit a shrine, wearing a cloth around their waist and tabi socks and straw sandals on their feet) is said to have started in the mid-Edo period by toji (a group of sake brewers) who visited a shrine to pray for safe brewing as they began sake making preparations in the intense cold. Even now, thousands of people from all over Sendai make the pilgrimage donning a white headband and white cloth around their waist, holding a piece of “fukumigami” paper in their mouth to refrain from small talk, and holding a bell in their right hand and paper lantern in their left hand. This sight has become a well-known winter event of Sendai, the City of Trees. In this tour, you will visit a sake brewery to which this event traces its roots. For lunch, you will enjoy food and sake pairings. After lunch, you can either choose to participate in hadaka-mairi, or not to participate and help with the preparations, attend a purification ritual at a shrine (a ritual for cleansing the body and soul of evil, such as sins, impurities, and calamities), and have a try at running a shop stall.