The first Sunday of April each year marks the celebration of a Shinto fertility festival, known as Kanamara matsuri, the “Festival of the steel penis”. This holiday celebrates male fertility, and it has become an increasingly popular event in recent years, especially among foreign tourists.
According to the legendOnce in Tokyo lived the daughter of a host. Then a sharp-toothed demon fell in love with her because of her beauty. He had tried repeatedly to woo her, but she had remained pure. One day the demon learned that she was engaged and would marry the next day. So that night the demon infiltrated his house and entered it. The woman, scared, did not want to tell anyone and the ceremony the next day proceeded without further ado.
On the night after the wedding, when the husband slept with the maid for the first time, the demon that had entered her vagina bit his member. After that, the woman had to remarry, but the results were the same. Then the woman went to a blacksmith who had the idea of using a iron phallus. Upon inserting it into the woman, the demon bit into the apparatus and was forced to come out and hide to lament over its fallen teeth. The blacksmith married the woman and they lived happily.
At first glance, the festival appears to be a celebration of the male genitalia. However, the purpose of the celebration is to ask prosperity, fertility and protection against venereal diseases. For the same reason, it is also common to find women who work in the sexual sphere attending the celebration. It is also visited by married couples who plan to start a family. And in recent years it has also become a popular festival within the LGBT community. There is even a phallus sculpture called Elizabeth that was donated to the festival by a trans celebrity in Japan and is worn by members of that community.
Within the festival all kinds of articles are sold and activities dedicated to the male sexual organ are carried out. You can see local food and drink, as well as shops of memories with phallic motifs, such as key chains, pens, toys and candy. Everything that is collected in this festival is invested for research Against AIDS. So I recommend not skimping on the souvenirs! There is also a procession with small sanctuaries that carry phallic monuments that reach the sanctuary.
The duration of the event is from 11 to 4 on the first Sunday in April, it can be reached through the train station Kawasaki-Daishi on the Keikyu Daishi line.
