guest post by Burstein!
photo by Nemo’s Great Uncle
Kanamara Matsuri is a Shinto Festival of the Steel Phallus that takes place each Spring in Kawasaki, Japan. The origins of this festival stem from an innkeepers daughter who had the misfortune of having a demon with sharp teeth fall in love with her. As demons are wont to do, the little bastard decided to take up residency in her vagina, and then wield his sharp teeth against the innkeeper’s daughter’s male companions. Enter Hero Blacksmith who crafted a fine steel phallus, which broke the poor demon’s teeth.
photo by Jordon Cheung
Nowadays, the festival focuses on the more general theme of sexual safety and sex worker safety. The festival is also used to raise money for HIV/AIDS research. Causes we all can get *ahem* behind.
Here are more photos of the festival from Akademi Fantasia Travel Blog.
photo by Héctor Ratia
Jokes aside, we here in San Francisco have plenty of our own sex-positive festivals, but I still feel that we will be trailing Japan in the Awesome Party category until we get our own Squid Festival.
See Previously: Squid vs. Robots Featured in Hakodate, Japan Tourism Videos
via Akademi Fantasia Travel Blog
