No wonder that Japan’s Kanamara Matsuri (aka the Penis Festival) is a big tourist attraction. This traditional Shinto fertility festival in Kawasaki that, ahem, comes to a head, on the first weekend of April.
And as you might expect in a fertility festival, the erect male member makes something of an appearance.
In fact, you’d be hard-pressed to miss it, given that its image is plastered on walls and strewn about in decorations, food is shaped in its honour…oh yes, and giant phalluses are paraded around the streets.
A local penis-venerating shrine is said to encourage prosperity, marriage and – bizarrely – help avoid STDs.
You’re also likely to hear the legend of a toothy demon who hid inside a woman’s privates waiting to bite off their new husband’s wedding tackle. It’s said that the woman had an iron phallus made to break the demon’s teeth.
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