Japanese Shinto fertility festivals: Penis veneration Kanamara festival at Kanayama (Kawasaki) and Honen Matsuri at Tagata (Aichi) shrines

You can rely on the Japanese to celebrate what’s best about the world.

In Komaki, Aichi prefecture in central Japan, there exists the Honen Matsuri, a fertility festival held at Tagata Shrine in mid-March.

A festival that asks for a good harvest, the highlight is certainly the massive phallus that processes around the shrine. Unfortunately, despite the multitude of gods in the Shinto universe, in fact the cock is not worshipped as a deity in its own right.

Even more famous is the Kanamara festival at Kanayama shrine in Kawasaki, that features a massive pink cock and apparently grow out of prostitutes gathering at the shrine to pray for protection from venereal disease. There are also penis-shaped sweets and food on offer throughout the festival, for anyone who fancies a nice nibble on a good bit of cock.