If I told you the premise of this festival, most of you would scoff and shake your heads in disbelief, but here it is with photographic proof to back it up. I present to you the Kanamara Matsuri, or Festival of the Steel Phallus. That's right, folks, it's the Giant Penis Festival dating back over a thousand years. Here prostitutes and transvestites pray to the gods of the penis for safe sex and fertility. Though the festival was populated more with gaijin, foreigners, than Japanese due to the spectacle of it, it was still a cultural experience in the extreme and one of the many reasons I love Japan so much.
Here, the local cross-dressers parade the giant pink phallus though a teeming crowd of onlookers, all trying to get the best photo possible.
A sexy woman rides one of the the giant wooden cock statues.
She's packing and she's bigger than me!
A baby sucks on a penis pop.
Old men carve penises out of radishes to be sold at auction later.
Flag wavers swing a massive flag, calling the festival to a close.
Here, the local cross-dressers parade the giant pink phallus though a teeming crowd of onlookers, all trying to get the best photo possible.
A sexy woman rides one of the the giant wooden cock statues.
She's packing and she's bigger than me!
A baby sucks on a penis pop.
Old men carve penises out of radishes to be sold at auction later.
Flag wavers swing a massive flag, calling the festival to a close.
2 comments:
I'm speechless!
We really need more festivals in the US. It seems like you go to one at least once a month. I can't remember the last time I went to a cool street festival, not to mention one with a giant pink penis as its mascot.
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