The Kanamara Matsuri, or ‘Festival of the Steel Phallus,’ may have come and gone, but the world needs to know about a celebration that sheds light on
The Kanamara Matsuri, or ‘Festival of the Steel Phallus,’ may have come and gone, but the world needs to know about a celebration that sheds light on that part of Japanese that the world may be unaware of.
- Held annually in Kawasaki, just south of Tokyo, visitors are awed by the sight of massive penis mikoshi, or portable shrines, usually paraded through the town while the festival lasts.
- Each mikoshi is carried by dozens of locals outfitted in happi coats and sweatbands, while some of the men are in fundoshi, loin cloth-style underwear.
- The he Kanamara Matsuri is said to be a serious religious affair, linked to Japan’s nature-worshiping Shinto religion.
- It is organised by the priests of Kanayama Jinja, a place where couples pray for fertility and marital harmony.
- History has it that between the 17th and 19th centuries, sex workers would come and pray to be rid of the sexually transmitted infections they picked up during the job.
- The festival is regarded as a joyful and blatant celebration of the penis.
- The parade consists of three mikoshi, each containing an enormous disembodied phallus.
- The first, erect and made of shiny black metal phallus, is carried by a troupe of whistling and chanting shrine-bearers. The second is an old wooden model, ancient and gnarled. The third is carried by a joso group. The joso are members of a cross-dressing club called Elizabeth Kaikan who are usually decked out in bright makeup and colourful wigs.
