ENTRY DESCRIPTION
The Saidai-ji Eyo festival, considered one of the three strangest festivals of Japan, is a Buddhist ritual in which 9000 men compete to grab just a pair of sacred wooden sticks to decide who will be the "Blessed man" for the year. A blessed man is one to whom the gods and Buddhas have brought good fortune, and it is believed that those who are awarded the sacred sticks receive them because of their deep piety. Naturally, these blessed man gain attention from others, and enjoy enough popularity to completely change their daily lives. Therefore, what is tested of each blessed man is his dignity and character. He must not let his abundant luck ruin his spirit, and must bear the task of returning the luck bestowed upon him by the gods and Buddhas back to the people. The over 500 year-old tradition of Eyo is based on an underlying understanding of the state of human life, greater than the ideals and trends of a single generation, and this idea has been cherished and passed down through the centuries.

AUTHOR
Yosuke Kashiwakura (b. 1978, currently living in Japan.) . He was awarded National Geographic Photo Contest/Nature Category-Honorable Mention, Px3 Paris Photography Prize/Nature Wildlife 1st Place Winner, Px3 Paris Photography Prize/Nature Earth 1st Place Winner, Monochrome Photography Awards/1st Place Winner - Landscape Photographer of the Year 2014, People 3rd Place Winner 2014, LensCulture Earth Awards 2015/SINGLE IMAGE CATEGORY 2nd Place, Nature’s Best Photography Windland Smith Rice International Awards, International Photography Awards. His work went on to be displayed in the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. His photographs depict natural scenery, the confrontation between human and nature, and environmental problems. He is active in a wide variety of media, including magazines, various publications, and advertisements.

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