PENIS PARADE AT GIANT JAPANESE FESTIVAL OF THE STEEL PHALLUS
An event in Kawasaki, Japan, aroused lots of interest last weekend. Of course, that’s to be expected with a festival dedicated to the male sex organ. Well, it also celebrates fertility. But the visuals are stunning and more than an eyeful. In English, people know it as the Festival of the Steel Phallus. In Japanese, its name is Kanamara Matsuri. The festival has been a tradition going back to 1969. I wonder how crazy it was back then? The penis festival happens every year on the first Sunday of April. Revelers at the giant Japanese penis festival participate in a parade of enormous phallic-themed mikoshi. Mikoshi are essentially portable Shinto shrines.
PENIS FESTIVAL RAISES FUNDS FOR HIV CHARITIES, SAFE SEX PRACTICE
But that’s not all that happens in this parade. People also mouth lollipops shaped like penises. They pose for portraits with a variety of larger than life sexual sculptures. But, of course, they also grab any penis themed souvenirs they can get ahold of. Seriously, it’s a huge penis festival and a lot to take in. In recent years more than 50,000 people have attended Kanamara Matsuri. But now, the festival is also dedicated to teaching everyone about practicing safe sex. The festival is also a fundraiser for HIV charities.
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FESTIVAL ORIGINS GO BACK TO PRAYING KAWASAKI SEX WORKERS
But the history of the giant Japanese penis festival dates all the way back to the 17th Century. That was when Kawasaki sex workers worshipped at the Kanayama Shrine. They went there to pray to be protected from STDs. Go figure! Today, many attendees still attend to pray. But they pray for protection from the gods as well as good fortune. But that’s not all the history. An old legend was also part of the inspiration for the penis festival. The legend was about a woman who rejected a sharp toothed demon. The demon responded by planting itself in her vagina for revenge. So the demon then ended up constantly biting the tip of her husband’s penis. Her solution was hiring a blacksmith. The blacksmith forged a steel phallus that they used to destroy the demon’s teeth.
