by Helen Gray

Created on: February 13, 2009

The Kanamara Matsuri is not your standard Japanese cultural experience. The Festival of the Iron Phallus is held on the first Sunday in April in Kawasaki, near Tokyo. While many guide books refer to it as a fertility festival its origins can actually be traced back to the Edo period (1603-1867) when local prostitutes would gather at the Shinto shrine in Kawasaki to pray for good business and protection from sexually transmitted diseases. These days the festival raises funds for HIV research.

The festival takes its name from an old local story. Once upon a time there was a beautiful village girl who suffered from a terrible affliction a demon possessed vagina! One after another the local men, all very strong and handsome of course, courted the maiden. And, one after they were were cruelly dismembered on the wedding night by the demon. Finally, the local blacksmith came up with a simple, ingenious and somewhat brutal solution to the problem. The maiden was to be deflowered with the only thing strong enough to kill the demon; an iron phallus. Work commenced and in due time the procedure was carried out, much to the relief of the village men. No mention is ever made of the maiden's reaction.

Wakamiya Hachimangu shrine is easy to find on festival day and at first glance it looks just like any other small local festival. The old stone fence to the shrine grounds was strung with bright banners and crowds of festival participants were wandering the streets dressed in happi coats or kimono and drinking sake. Take a second look at the ladies in kimono, not all of them are quite so lady like. Even if you can't read kanji, the stylized pictures of erect penises on the banners are a dead give away. And then there's the stream of people wandering out through the gates with their lips firmly clamped around penis shaped lollipops and clutching penis shaped festival merchandise.

The grounds of the shrine are dotted with stalls selling a huge range of themed festival merchandise. The candy stalls are hugely popular so it's worth making them the first stop on your festival itinerary. There's a huge array of penis shaped lollipops in every imaginable shape and flavor as well as bags of little genitalia molded in chocolate. At other stalls genitalia shaped pottery and carved daikon (radish) compete for space with sterling silver jewelry depicting intertwined couples.

The highlight of the day is the festival procession at around 1pm. During the procession three portable shrines are

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