On the fourth Saturday of December, after midnight, men in white loincloths and bare feet walk the approach to Hofu Tenmangu Shrine. The temperature in Yamaguchi in December is not extreme by northern standards, but it is cold. The men are aware of this. The cold is the point. Hofu Tenmangu is one of the earliest shrines dedicated to Sugawara no Michizane — the scholar-statesman who was deified after death and became Tenjin, the deity of learning, worshipped across Japan at thousands of shrines. Hofu's version is among the oldest. The hadakamairi, the bare pilgrimage, is classified among Japan's three great naked festivals. The festival attracts fewer visitors than the other two in that category, which means the experience of watching or participating is less mediated by crowd management. It is a winter religious ceremony performed by people who have prepared for it and understand what they are doing. Coming to see it is straightforward; the shrine is in a small city between Yamaguchi and Ube, and the ceremony is visible from the public approach. The cold is the same for spectators as for participants.