Below you can find an amalgamation of posts I had made regarding the Kanamara Festival which will be held in Kawasaki this weekend I believe. I will post a couple of photo galleries in here in the future but if you can’t wait you can find one gallery over at deadhippo.com at the time of posting.

The Kanamara Festival is held near Kawasaki Daishi Station on the first Sunday of April. The small procession of mikoshi (portable shrine) starts off at Kaneyama Shrine (aka Wakamiya Hachimangu) and beats its baudy path through the smaller streets of the neighborhood. During the festival you’ll be able to see all shapes and sizes of phallic objects, from giant statues being carried by middle-aged men in drag to small candies being licked by pretty young ladies. There are even people displaying daikon (japanese radish) carved in great detail to resemble…well…a picture tells a thousand words.

You’d be forgiven for thinking that this festival is celebrating the penis for in a way it is – a steel penis. The legend goes that there was a demon living in the vaginas of the women in this area and a local metal-smith forged a steel phallus which broke the demons teeth and thus ridding the town of it forever. This legend was mostly wishful thinking on the part of the locals, many of whom had caught venereal diseases from the prostitutes that were common in this area in the Edo Period (1603-1867), during which this festival began. Even today Kawasaki is famous for its red-light district.

Well, I did a bit of research about this and have attended the festival. The festival was originally a fertility festival and the locals would attend to ensure they would have plenty of healthy children. This was a pretty common pagan ritual all over Japan and indeed it is still lightheartedly carried out in many towns. The purpose for the festival as for most of the local festivals was to generate income/trade for the towns people and religious people.
Later this particular areas festival evolved as this area became a red-light district and venereal diseases became common. Then the legend about the iron penis was formed and the festival got its current name. And as with many festivals it continued to this day even though people no longer believe the legends.
It is also true that most people in Japan don’t know about this festival. In fact most people in Tokyo or Yokohama, cities that are part of the same urban conurbation as Kawasaki have more than likely never heard of such an event.
I have attended many festivals in this area and I have never seen so many foreigners as I have at this one. In fact aside from the JLPT I have never seen so many foreigners in one place as I have at this festival. There are many Japanese people there but I think they have the same curiosity as us. One elderly Japanese lady told me of her experience one day when she wanted to visit Kawasaki Daishi and came across this scene. She was embarrassedly describing the scene to me when I suddenly realized that I had been there taking photos. Oh she laughed.

How to get there
From Yokohama Station, take the Keikyu Line to Keikyu Kawasaki Station and then change to the Keikyu Daishi Line to Keikyu Kawasaki Daishi Station. It should take about 25 minutes including transfer. For train timetables and prices click here.