The Kanamara Festival
The Kanamara (metal phallus) festival is held in Kawasaki, near Tokyo, each Spring. It’s probably the most famous of Japan’s many fertility festivals and venerates the metal-working gods Kanayama-hiko and Kanayama-hime, deities that are said to grant easy childbirth, marital harmony and protection from sexually transmitted diseases. Even back in 2006 when I took these photos, the festival was packed with people. But that was before tourism to Japan started getting popular, so I can’t imagine what it’s like now! For me, the festival is a fascinating example of bawdy and unprudish traditional Japanese culture.
December 2006, Kawasaki, Japan
