Bakla Ako, May Reklamo?

A what? A Penis Festival. Yes, there is such a thing as a Penis Festival and who better to have one than our Japanese neighbors. Kanamara Matsuri is an annual fertility festival held in Kawasaki, Japan. This Shinto festival revolves around one central theme, the penis.

The Kanamara Shrine

Photo Source

If China has a shrine for the world’s largest cock, Japan has a shrine to venerate the penis. This shrine used to be popular among prostitutes who wished to pray for protection against sexually-transmitted diseases. If you’re one of those moralists, do not go berserk now and spread the news to the world that this is an immoral and pornographic ritual.

It is said that there are divine protections also in business prosperity and the clan’s prosperity, easy delivery, marriage, and married couple harmony, etc. Today, the festival is used to raise money for HIV research. There’s also a legend of a demon that hid inside a young girl and castrated two young men on their wedding nights before a blacksmith fashioned an iron phallus that was used to break the demon’s teeth, leading to the enshrinement of the item.

from Wikipedia

Also known as The Festival of the Steel Phallus, this annual event attracts a lot of tourists around late March or early April – around the same time as the Japanese Cherry Blossoms festival.

A large, pink phallus turns the corner and heads down the street. Sitting atop the shoulders of 10-12 men in bandanas, it bobs up and down to their rhythmic chants. Locals carve white radishes into images of the male reproductive system, preparing to auction them off at an afternoon banquet. Transvestites line the street; their red lipstick and hairy legs are no less a contrast than the grandmother who’s licking on a lollypop that’s in the shape of a….well, you can probably guess by now.

Source: 2 Camels

Steve Grove, who has witnessed it first-hand, has a blow-by-blow account of what really goes on during this festival. Photos can be found here and here.

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