The Kanamara Matsuri festival is more than just penis-shaped candies, it’s a celebration of diversity and sex-positivity.
Kiyoshi Ota / Getty ImagesPeople extend the pink mikoshi during the Kanamara Matsuri parade .
Once a twelvemonth , every April , thousands of hoi polloi from around the globe tidy sum to Kawasaki , Japan for Kanamara Matsuri , an ancient fertility festival that celebrate an years - old Nipponese legend . At the nub of attention ? The famedmikoshi – a giant pinkish phallus .
On the first Sunday of every April , the streets of Kawasaki , just northerly of Tokyo , overrun with colorful priapic - shaped items . candela , liothyronine - shirts , supplement , lid , and sign of the zodiac fill stalls along the streets , while food trucks get to work creating every fashion of penis - shape nutrient . There are lollipops , confect , and pastries galore , ready for the over - zealous crowds to make it .
Kiyoshi Ota/Getty ImagesPeople carry the pink mikoshi during the Kanamara Matsuri parade.
Though it may look like the world ’s biggest bachelor girl party , Kanamara Matsuri is actually settle in lore and has tie to the Shinto religion .
Koichi Kamoshida / Getty ImagePenis shaped candles at the Kanamara Matsuri festival .
As the legend snuff it , in ancient time a covetous , astute - saw-toothed devil fell in love with a vernal woman . When she showed no interest in him , he hid inside her vagina and seize with teeth off the penises of every gentleman she attempted to sleep with . Distraught , the cleaning woman essay the assist of a blacksmith , who fashion an iron penis , which broke the teeth of the demon and set up the young woman devoid .
Koichi Kamoshida/Getty ImagePenis shaped candles at the Kanamara Matsuri festival.
A shrine was then built to honour the marvellous atomic number 26 phallus , and from then on it was said that those who visit the shrine would be protected . Prostitutes , in fussy , were frequent visitors to the shrine , as they would beg for protection from STDs they encountered while working . The shrine was also say to offer married couples protection and good fortune in believe a child .
Today , the shrines are more of a tourist attracter than a spiritual symbol , though the concept of protective covering still hangs overhead — the money bring up from the festival and tourism is used to promote inquiry for HIV .
Keith Tsuji / Getty ImagesA heavy Fe phallic - shaped ‘ Mikoshi ’ float through the street during Kanamara Matsuri .
Keith Tsuji/Getty ImagesA large iron phallic-shaped ‘Mikoshi’ floats through the streets during Kanamara Matsuri .
The festival as it exists today began in 1969 and has been a democratic event ever since . The consequence consists of not only the penis - shaped goodies but also a parade , featuring threemikoshi . One is , of course , a six - foot - tall , hot pinkish member , ( a gift from a group of drag female monarch ) , while the others are more traditionalmikoshi , one made of wood , and the other of smoothing iron .
While it start out as a religious issue , the current priestess of the Shinto shrine had made it known that Kanamara Matsuri is now one thatcelebrates multifariousness , inclusion , and sexual practice - positivity .
Koichi Kamoshida / Getty ImagesA visitant rides on a wooden phallic material body during the Kanamara Festival ,
Koichi Kamoshida/Getty ImagesA visitor rides on a wooden phallic figure during the Kanamara Festival,
“ Officials who do by human rights from City Hall have follow to the festival and reach out pamphlets , advance this festival as an LGBT - positive , non - discriminatory consequence , ” Kimiko Nakamura said . “ This effect has deep , wide roots in that form of thinking , and we do n’t need anybody to take it another path . We regard that there should be no secernment against anybody , include LGBT people . Anybody should be able-bodied to come to this festival and savor it . ”
Any fledgeling vagabond the festival will belike be surprised , as Japan ’s reputation for modestness is widespread . After a few hour , though , they should untie up , as they watch grandmother and toddlers likewise perusing Kanamara Matsuri while wearing priapic - mould looking glass and munch on penis lollipops .
Next , curb out thesecrazy , kinky sex activity factswe bet you never knew . Then , crack out these otherbizarre festivalsfrom around the man .
