Members welcome: all you want to know about one of Japan’s weirdest festivals

A parade of giant phallus floats, people sucking on penis-shaped lollipops, penis-themed songs, genitalia carving competitions and offerings of “testicle-vagina” rice wine sound like a scene from a dodgy X-rated movie. In fact, these are just a few of the highlights of the one-day Kanamara Matsuri festival, which sees the Japanese city of Kawasaki overrun with tributes to the male member.

“You really have to see it to believe it,” says Australian Rebecca Reece, an English-Japanese translator who has lived in Kawasaki, just south of Tokyo and the country’s ninth biggest city, for almost two years. “It’s a really surreal but fun experience.”

The 31-year-old will be one among the thousands to gather at the Kanayama Shrine on April 3 to join in the phallic fun.

The festival, held each year on the first Sunday in April, may appear a garish affair to the prudish, but in fact it carries many moral messages and has roots steeped in Japanese history. Participants pray to gods for fertility, healthy childbirth, wedded bliss and protection against sexually transmitted infections.

According to Japanese legend, sometime during the Edo period of 1603 to 1867, there was a sharp-toothed demon who was angered when his love was unrequited by a beautiful woman who wed another man. Seeking revenge, he sneaked inside the woman’s vagina and bit off her newlywed’s private parts as they consummated the marriage.

When the jealous demon put in a repeat performance, leaving her second husband with nothing down below, the woman sought help from the village blacksmith. Together they concocted a plan to trick the evil spirit, forging a steel penis to break its teeth and flee her vagina for good. In commemoration of the folklore, the Kanayama Shrine was erected in the town.