Japanese Worship Giant "Iron Penises"

Who doesn't? Light Content Warning for a pic of a large pink penis idol.

Thousands gathered here Sunday for the Kanamara Matsuri, an event with roots dating back centuries and now one of Japan's best-known fertility festivals.

Kanamara Matsuri, literally the Festival of the Iron Penis, had its beginnings in the Edo Period (1603-1868) with the prayers of women called meshimori onna, according to Wakamiya Hachimangu, the Shinto shrine in Kawasaki where the event was held.

More (Stronger Content Warning) pics here, including a somewhat amusing vendor selling "penis" for 600 Yen, and also "pussy" for the same price of 600 Yen, indicating the Japanese really have given up on sex. They're like sexual Rainmen, figuring that a pack of cigarettes is worth 100 dollars and that Boeing 787 is also worth about 100 dollars.

Supposedly the festival is held partly to raise AIDS awareness. I'm always amused by hook-up festivals, as on American college campuses, where the stated aim is to increase AIDS and STD awareness. Learn by doing, I guess.

Thanks to Alice H, who writes:

Wikipedia says the giant penis was made to break the teeth of a demon who used to hide inside young women and castrate men on their wedding night.

No wonder they're so fucked up and turning off to sex. If I thought a woman has a penis-eating demon in her snootch, well, I guess I wouldn't go near that with a ten foot alien rape-tentacle, either.

posted by Ace at 10:49 AM

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