The Somin Festival (commonly known as the “Naked Man Festival”), which has been going on for 1,000 years in Iwate Prefecture, ended on February 17th.

Hundreds of men wearing only loincloths gathered at Kuroishi Temple in Oshu for a traditional festival in a final battle for ownership of the amulet bag given to them by the temple's chief priest. UPI report.

According to the same report, the tradition was discontinued by Kuroishi Temple Chief Priest Daigo Fujinami, who announced that the Somin Festival would officially end due to the declining population of the region where it was held.

Fujinami said, “We made this decision because the people involved in the festival are aging and there is a lack of successors.'' It was written on the temple's homepage.. “We have made every effort to continue the festival as much as possible, but in order to prevent last-minute cancellations and confusion in the future, we have decided to cancel the festival itself.”

According to UPI, the Naked Man Festival was held every year on the seventh day of the Lunar New Year. (Related: Video shows dozens of captive whales trying to escape from ice floes)

According to the newspaper, the winner of the Sominsai final contest was Toshiaki Kikuchi, 49, a member of the Festival Preservation Association. Toshiaki regretted that the Naked Man Festival would never be held again.

“I'm sad to see the festival end. According to UPI, I participated in the hope that it would be a memorable festival,” Akira Toashi said.