4/6/2006: Japan's Kanamara Matsuri (Festival of the Steel Phallus) (May be NSFW)

Undertoad · 04-06-2006, 11:10 AM

Promenea sends along this gallery of images from this Japanese street festival, Kanamara Matsuri, which translates to "Festival of the Steel Phallus". It's a fertility festival, which this article explains:

Quote:

Sexually transmitted diseases spurred the popularization of phallic symbols in some of Japan's festivals dedicated to the male member, such as this one dating back to the Edo period (1603-1867). At that time, Kawasaki's "ladies of the night" prayed not only that business would be brisk, but for protection from syphilis. Come cherry blossom time, they gathered baskets of bamboo shoots and other sprouting delicacies, carried the shrine's phallic image in procession through the streets, and then sat down to a merry banquet on mats spread out on the courtyard of Kanamara Shrine.

With the spread of syphilis now curbed, participants in the modern festival solicit donations for HIV/AIDS research. Today, the highlights of this saucy festival include transvestites parading through the town's streets carrying a mikoshi (portable shrine) with a humungous pink phallus on top. And, if that's not guaranteed to make you blush as deeply as the surrounding cherry blossoms, then the spectacle of grandmas and grandpas sucking on carnal candy and sweetmeat replicas of this stupendous phallus, is more than likely to.

Women ride huge carved phalluses while holding lollypop cocks...

...And the men photograph them. It's probably inevitable!

The artifacts are not only phallic.

Touch the woody penis for happiness and prosperity. I think I've used that line.

Even the official signage has a dick.

srom · 04-06-2006, 12:06 PM

(*speechless*)

lawman · 04-06-2006, 12:09 PM

lollypop penises...

Sweet.

Bitman · 04-06-2006, 01:10 PM

Not enough "quotes" in the article ..

Quote:

Come "cherry blossom" time, they gathered "baskets" of "bamboo shoots" and other "sprouting delicacies", "carried" the shrine's phallic image in "procession" through the streets, and then "sat" down to a merry "banquet" on
"mats" spread out on the courtyard of Kanamara "Shrine".

Feh, it's more fun when the topic's not already "sexual". And full of "syphilis".

Elspode · 04-06-2006, 01:56 PM

I can't help but think that this sort of thing is ever so much more sociologically healthy than sweeping naughty pee-pee's under the rug and pretending that you're going to burn in hell if you use it.

glatt · 04-06-2006, 02:01 PM

Agreed. Japan wasn't settled by Puritans.

lumberjim · 04-06-2006, 05:20 PM

they loooooooooove the cock!

richlevy · 04-06-2006, 05:24 PM

Sooo, if say, the Japanese community in North Carolina wanted to hold this festival, would they be protected under the first amendment?

xoxoxoBruce · 04-06-2006, 08:37 PM

Sure Rich, who's gonna dick with 'em?

I like this picture best.

zippyt · 04-06-2006, 10:35 PM

Oh Buster Needs to go a Anvil shoot'in a'gain !!!

I Wounder how far that thing would burry in Mother Earth !!?????!!

CaptainWingSauce · 04-07-2006, 08:27 AM

Japanese peni are nice and all, but you're just going to be hungry again in 20 minutes.

"I'm not racist...... my dog is Japanese"

barefoot serpent · 04-07-2006, 09:22 AM

I think I'm having daikon envy.

Promenea · 04-07-2006, 01:25 PM

So the question of the day is why are all those representations circumcised when that wasn't the cultural practice in Japan until recently?

xoxoxoBruce · 04-07-2006, 03:50 PM

They weren't carved until recently.

wolf · 04-08-2006, 02:14 AM

They really are inscrutable, aren't they?

04-06-2006, 12:06 PM	#2
srom a small little word Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: New York State and Massachussetts State Posts: 17	(speechless) __________________ "I know enough about cooking. If it tastes bad, then fry it until it tastes good."

04-06-2006, 01:56 PM	#5
Elspode When Do I Get Virtual Unreality? Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Raytown, Missouri Posts: 12,719	I can't help but think that this sort of thing is ever so much more sociologically healthy than sweeping naughty pee-pee's under the rug and pretending that you're going to burn in hell if you use it. __________________ "To those of you who are wearing ties, I think my dad would appreciate it if you took them off." - Robert Moog

04-06-2006, 05:20 PM	#7
lumberjim I can hear my ears Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 25,571	they loooooooooove the cock! __________________ This body holding me reminds me of my own mortality Embrace this moment, remember We are eternal, all this pain is an illusion ~MJKeenan

04-06-2006, 05:24 PM	#8
richlevy King Of Wishful Thinking Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Philadelphia Suburbs Posts: 6,669	Sooo, if say, the Japanese community in North Carolina wanted to hold this festival, would they be protected under the first amendment? __________________ Exercise your rights and remember your obligations - VOTE! I have always believed that hope is that stubborn thing inside us that insists, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us so long as we have the courage to keep reaching, to keep working, to keep fighting. -- Barack Hussein Obama

04-06-2006, 08:37 PM	#9
xoxoxoBruce The future is unwritten Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 71,105	Sure Rich, who's gonna dick with 'em? I like this picture best. __________________ The descent of man ~ Nixon, Friedman, Reagan, Trump. Last edited by xoxoxoBruce; 04-07-2007 at 05:53 PM.

04-06-2006, 12:09 PM	#3
lawman unerringly questioning Join Date: May 2002 Location: Whitehorse, Yukon Posts: 100	lollypop penises... Sweet.

04-06-2006, 02:01 PM	#6
glatt ™ Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Arlington, VA Posts: 27,717	Agreed. Japan wasn't settled by Puritans.

04-06-2006, 10:35 PM	#10
zippyt LONG LIVE KING ZIPPY! per Feetz Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Arkansas Posts: 7,661	Oh Buster Needs to go a Anvil shoot'in a'gain !!! I Wounder how far that thing would burry in Mother Earth !!?????!! __________________ "Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get. " Brother Dave Gardner

04-07-2006, 08:27 AM	#11
CaptainWingSauce Recruit or Something Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 4	Japanese peni are nice and all, but you're just going to be hungry again in 20 minutes. "I'm not racist...... my dog is Japanese"

04-07-2006, 09:22 AM	#12
barefoot serpent go ahead, abbrev. it Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Lawrence, KS Posts: 2,623	I think I'm having daikon envy.

04-07-2006, 01:25 PM	#13
Promenea Resident President Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 86	So the question of the day is why are all those representations circumcised when that wasn't the cultural practice in Japan until recently?

04-07-2006, 03:50 PM	#14
xoxoxoBruce The future is unwritten Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 71,105	They weren't carved until recently. __________________ The descent of man ~ Nixon, Friedman, Reagan, Trump.

04-08-2006, 02:14 AM	#15
wolf lobber of scimitars Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Phila Burbs Posts: 20,774	They really are inscrutable, aren't they? __________________ wolf eht htiw og "Conspiracies are the norm, not the exception." --G. Edward Griffin The Creature from Jekyll Island High Priestess of the Church of the Whale Penis

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