During this period a year ago, thousands of people gathered for Hadaka Matsuri of Japan - also known as the "Naked Festival" - in Okayama Prefecture in the southern part of Honshu Island. Today, photos and videos from the past festival are a reminder of how many things have changed.

Also known as Saidaiji Eyo, Hadaka Matsuri takes place on the third Saturday in February at the Saidaiji Cannon Temple and this year was no exception.

Hadaka Matsuri celebrates the blessings of a prosperous harvest, prosperity and fertility. At normal times, it starts in the middle of the afternoon with an event for young boys - aimed at stimulating interest in the younger generations. In the evening, about 10,000 male participants spend an hour or two running around the temple premises preparing and cleansing with cold frozen water, before entering the main temple building.

They are not as naked as one thinks from the name of the festival. They usually wear a Japanese cover called "fundoshi" and a pair of white socks called "tabi".

When the lights go out at 10:00 a.m., a priest throws 100 bundles of twigs and two sacred sticks 20 inches [20 cm] long into a crowd from a four-foot-high window. Men fight with each other to catch herds and / or sticks. Whoever succeeds, awaits a blessed year.

The whole event lasts about 30 minutes and participants show up with some cuts, bruises and sprained joints. Visitors usually come from all over Japan and some from abroad to attend.

But event organizers confirmed to CNN Travel that this year’s festival, which took place on February 20, was limited to a select group of about 100 men.

Instead of fighting for the sticks, the men gathered at the Saidaiji Cannon Temple to pray for fertility, the end of the pandemic, and the establishment of world peace.

Asked by CNN why they did not cancel the festival, in a statement the organizers noted that it has continued uninterrupted for more than 500 years.

The Naked Festival evolved from a ritual that began 500 years ago during the Muromachi period (1338-1573), when villagers competed to catch paper talismans, which were given by a priest at the Saidaiji Kannonin temple.

Burimi: CNN, The Japan News