/ 2025 / Press / Feature Story

Steam and Spirit

  • Prize
    Honorable Mention
  • Photographer
    Hiroki Anzai, Japan
  • Date of Photograph
    February 2025

Every winter in Noboribetsu, a hot spring town in Hokkaido Japan, men gather nearly bare-skinned to take part in the Yu Matsuri—a ritual of gratitude and endurance. Amid clouds of steam and the sting of cold air, they splash hot spring water on each other to thank the earth’s geothermal gifts and pray for health in the coming year. This image captures a fleeting, visceral moment of a centuries-old tradition—where fire and frost, body and spirit, chaos and community meet.

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