The first Sunday in April marks the
celebration of the Shinto fertility
festival, the Kanamara Matsuri or the“Festival of the Steel Phallus.” Known colloquially as the “Penis Festival”, these festivities celebrate just that: the power of the humble penis. And it is an event that is gaining increasing popularity, especially among foreign
visitors, each year.
Today, Sunday, 3 April 2016 marks this years Penis Festival, and so you’re probably wondering why the Japanese celebrate the “steel phallus.”
Well, legend has it that sometime back in the Edo period (1603-1867), there was a sharp-toothed demon who fell in love with a beautiful woman. The woman, however, didn’t return the demon’s affection and decided to marry another man.
Angering the demon, he inhabited the woman’s vagina before their wedding night and when they tried to consummate the marriage, the demon bit off the groom’s penis with his razor sharp teeth.
When the woman remarried, the
jealous demon once again made his
feelings clear by biting off her second husband’s penis. Deciding that enough was enough, the upset villagers concocted a plan to trick the demon.
A local blacksmith forged a steel phallus and upon its insertion, the demon’s teeth were broken and he left the woman’s vagina for good.
Sometime thereafter the legend was
commemorated by way of the
Kanamara Matsuri and the
enshrinement of the actual steel
phallus at Kanayama Shrine,
constructed to honor Kanayama
Hikonokami and Kanayama
Himenokami, the Shinto deities of
childbirth and lower abdomen health. The Kanayama Shrine then became renowned as a site for sex workers to pray for protection against STDs.
Nowadays the shrine is said to aid
fertility and is often visited by married couples hoping to start a family. The festival itself has also become popular with the gay, lesbian and transgender communities. They have come up with additional monkeys at this shrine.
So what happens at the festival?
Well, imagine a whole lot of items and activities dedicated to the male sex organ.
First you are welcomed to the shrine
with some festival-appropriate signage.
Along with food and drink vendors like any typical Japanese festival, there are also stalls selling penis-themed souvenirs including key chains, trinkets, pens, toys and chocolates.
Or how about a penis candle?
Or maybe a pair of glasses with a penis nose attached?
These visitors walked around asking if anyone had a tissue!
The most popular item would have to be the penis (and vagina) shaped
lollipops. Grab one early to ensure you don’t miss out and avoid the long queues (they can and do sell out). Just take a look at the crowds trying to get their hands on one!
And if you’re wondering whether to
open your wallet, all the proceeds
from items sold go to AIDS research.
There are plenty of opportunities to
pose with other phallic items too.
Give this guy a small tip for a photo
and he’ll show his appreciation.
How about a “ride”?
Or a bottle of “testicle-vagina” rice
wine? The bottle of sake is sold at the festival as a kind of play on words with the characters used for this “Kingyoku/ Banko Happy Set” (as Japanese kanji characters can carry different pronunciations and meaning depending on context). While the first word could be taken to mean “testicles”, it’s actually in reference to the expression kin-gyoku ryouen, meaning “flawless jewel.” And while the second could be mistaken for “vagina”, it’s referring to the expression ban-ko fu-eki , portraying a permanent state of goodness or quality.
If you can’t wait to drink your sake,
then the free tasting from early
afternoon might be up your alley.
But of course there is a Kanamara Matsuri twist! You eat a small dried fish before swallowing the amazake (sweet sake).
Why? The sweet cloudy white sake
mixed with the salty fishiness of the
dried fish is said to mimic both the
look and taste of semen!
Or maybe you’d like to try your hand
at carving a penis out of a radish?
Perhaps the highlight of the festival are the three large phallic portable shrines (mikoshi) that are carried throughout the streets in a parade from around midday. There’s the “Kanamara Fune Mikoshi” – a steel penis in a ship – which represents the steel phallus that the woman used to dispel the demon.
And then a standout pink penis
mikoshi known as “Elizabeth” which was donated to the festival by Tokyo drag queen club Elizabeth Kaikan.
“Elizabeth” is famously carried through the streets by trans-gender/cross- dressing festival participants.
It was a very windy day and “Elizabeth” took on a precarious lean. You can imagine how it sounded to have people in the crowd start screaming “The penis is falling!”
The portable shrines are carried
throughout the streets for around an
hour and a half before being returned to the shrine so there are plenty of opportunities to take pictures with them both before and after, although the large crowds can make them difficult to get to, especially around midday before the parade.
If you wish to go out onto the streets
to follow the parade, make sure you
get out of the shrine before 12 as they block off the exit right before the mikoshi leave and it becomes so
cramped in there that you literally can’t move. Otherwise, you can follow the mikoshi from a distance after they leave and the exit clears.
Anyone can participate in the parade, and the shrine actually loans out kimonos to anyone wanting to don one and join in.
Be sure to also wander the festival
grounds to take in some of the other
cultural displays.
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