author: serlingrod : Kawasaki, Japan Sunday, May 6th, 2007
author: Sherlock77 : Calgary, AB Saturday, August 26th, 2006
author: ghostofgrandin : Chicago, IL Wednesday, August 2nd, 2006
author: ksedge : Calgary, AB Tuesday, July 25th, 2006
author: Drew (drewk at 1k dot ca) : Toronto, ON Friday, January 27th, 2006
author: alice : Paris, France Thursday, November 24th, 2005
author: ian : Angleton, TX Thursday, August 4th, 2005
author: Jamie : Spalding, UK Sunday, May 1st, 2005
| | author: Chiamattt : Seoul, South Korea

author: serlingrod : Kawasaki, Japan
 The Kanamara Matsuri, also called Festival of the Steel Phallus, is an annual Shinto fertility festival held in Kawasaki, Japan each spring. The festival is centered around a local penis-venerating shrine, once popular among prostitutes who wished to pray for protection against sexually transmitted diseases. 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.
External LinksFestival photos on flickr Festival posts on technorati
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