Kanamara Matsuri

WARNING:Yesterday I went to a festival in Kawasaki originally created for "ladies of the night" to bless their buisness in the coming year. Over the years it has bascially become a fertility festival and a fundraiser for AIDS/HIV awareness. So if you are offended by...let's just say..."suggestively shaped paraphenelia" and discussion that comes with it, it's probably best you skip this one.
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Here's one picture just to test. It's the least brashing of the phallic imagery.
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It says "Kanamara Matsuri". With the cherry blossoms in the background. Not offended? Unsure? You probably will be. Just skip it.
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No I'm serious. Not all of them will be this phallic-less. This is in front of the shrine with the sakura in blossom. But just skip it. Don't keep scrolling down.
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Another phallic-less pic. The last. Torii gates by the shrine. By after this no more freebies.
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Sorry about that. I just thought it was fair to warn people of the onslaught of giant steel penises. Anyway, the name "Kanamara" means "steel phallus". Which is the main attraction at this festival of fun. I heard about this festival a long time ago from some random "visit Japan" website and knew I couldn't miss out on this one. The handout they gave us when we first got their said that this festival was started in the Edo period. The ladies of the night (prostitutes, for the euphematically inclined) of Kawasaki would gather under the cherry blossoms and have spring foods and pray to the god of fertility for a good year and to not get syphillis. They would make all sorts of phallic imagery and parade it down the streets to end in a big meal. (a "merry banquet" on the phamphlet) And by time it came to mean more of a fertility festival with prayers for healthy "progeny", fertile marriage or an easy delivery. In more current times, the festival raises money for AIDS and HIV prevention and research. Which is pretty notable because I get the message a lot of times that Japan is in complete denial about anything AIDS related. Almost worse than the "abstinence" education in Texas that so far has raised birth rates and std transmission rates. Go ignorance.

Right off from the station it was pretty easy to spot. You just had to follow the group of Gaijin (foreigners). I think this festival was probably the highest concentration of gaijin I've seen outside of the british pub experiences.


Here's Atilla at the opening shrine. It's cherry blossom season, so it looked all pretty. A bit cloudy though.


They had this wooden beauty in the middle of the grounds for photo oppurtunities. Mostly for drunk white girls to ride it like a horse and get whistles from the crowd.


Like this one.


This is the actual temple.


Yep. It's a giant pink penis.


I wasn't kidding. This bad boy is about a metre I'm guessing. In the words of Jerri Blank, "Solid. Brass."


Along with "Pinky" and "Steele Jackson", these were the 3 "mikoshi" (means something like "small moveable shrine") that were to be paraded on the shoulders of short shorted men. I thought this mikoshi was kind of out of place...


...but luckily someone attached a steel dong to this one to make it legit.


This is one of the little banners flying proud.


These were two of the organizers I'm guessing. The guy on the left handed out pamphlets about the festival with cryptic english messages that made me think he was on some "pep-me-ups". And the guy on the right...well he's to be commended, not everyone can pull off a maid's outfit with giant cat paws.


I can't believe I just uploaded a picture with a man displaying a freshly carved daikon (Japanese radish) in the shape of a penis. Where am i?


This one you could put on your front end and pretend it's your own! How novel.


It's parade time. The people carrying Pink were all tranvestites. But I couldn't get a great picture among the crowd. But you can see a girl enjoying her lollipop, conveniently shaped phallicly.


About to start the parade.


Steele Jackson is in 1st place.


The trannies about to carry Pink into glory.


Lifting the final mikoshi into the parade.


You certainly can't lose that in a crowd.


High school boy possibly suggesting a new marching band uniform.


The thing about steel dongs, is that they travel in pairs.


The crowd at about mid day. Quite a popular event.

I didn't get pictures of all the participants. But there were all sorts of people there. And a lot of little kids. I was kind of surprised, in most of the western world this would be considered an "adult" event and kids would not be allowed. But there was really nothing perverted or "adult" about this whole festival. No one was taking off their tops for beads or licking alcohol of crevises of the human body. I think most interestingly of all, was this was a genuine religious ceremony. They had a whole blessing ceremony and monks and all that. I think Shinto didn't get the whole "shame your followers of their sexual matters" memo that most religions got. This is a big difference in Japanese and Western thought. While in the western world we are taught that although God has made our body and our thoughts, the Devil was granted control of both and neither should be trusted. Maybe it's just baptist theology...although I'm pretty sure the catholics do a pretty good job about imbuing guilt into all sexual matters. But thanks to a lot of western influence, a lot about Japan is like the West 100 years ago. So who knows. The world's a funny place.