The Kanamatsuri is held every year on the first Sunday of April near the Shinto Kanayama shrine in Kawasaki, Japan. The festival has been going on since the Edo era (1603-1867) in Japan and was started to help families conceive successfully. The metal penis was also visited by prostitutes in hopes that they do not contract any venereal diseases. Now the festival is used to raise money for HIV research.
The historical background of this festival is according to legend, a women’s vagina was inhabited by a demon that would bite of the men’s penis. After the man was castrated hi would go to a metalsmith to have a new penis made. At this time if the demon would try to bite off his penis again it would break its teeth.
Even though this festival seems a little bazaar the shrine has always had a religious and spiritual purpose for those who needed help with fertility, childbirth, and sexually transmitted diseases.
Religion and sex have a history together in Japan which is clearly shown in the stories of how the Japanese deities or Kami created Japan.
You can see that people of all ages enjoy going to this festival. I felt that it gave people an excuse to get drunk and sexually express themselves in a public space. At the festival I saw many foreign people also taking part in the festival. This might have been because the US Military base is not very far away.
There were many stalls selling food and drinks. I was lucky enough to get my hands on these “penis energy balls” which were actually Tako-Yaki.
