With its giant phalluses and penis-shaped candies, the Japanese fertility festival attracted many tourists, families and couples on Sunday, as it does every year.
During the "Kanamara" spring festival, in Kawasaki near Tokyo, devotees in colorful outfits carry three giant fake phalluses in a procession through the street, in a joyful atmosphere.
This Sunday a black steel phallus measuring one meter long is installed in the courtyard of the Kanayama shrine, which honors the Shinto deities of fertility, childbirth and protection against sexually transmitted infections.
According to legend, the festival honors a local blacksmith from the Edo period (1603-1868) who fashioned a steel dildo to break the teeth of a sharp-toothed demon who lived in a woman's vagina and castrated young men during their wedding nights.
Over the centuries, sex workers went on pilgrimage to this sanctuary to benefit from its protective powers, before the festival evolved into a broader fertility ritual aimed at destigmatizing sexuality.
In February, preliminary data released by the Ministry of Health showed that the Japanese birth rate had fallen for the tenth consecutive year in 2025: a total of 705,809 babies are born that year in Japan, a decrease of 2.1% from 2024. The figures include births to Japanese nationals in Japan, those to foreigners in Japan and babies born to Japanese nationals overseas.
This event attracts tourists, families with children, and LGBTQ supporters wearing rainbow outfits.
"We have the impression that it's more than just 'ha ha, sex'. There's a whole thought process behind it," Jimmy Hsu, 32, a tourist from San Francisco, told AFP, referring to the theme of fertility.
Despite the abundance of penis-themed T-shirts, toys and candy, "I think by American standards it's really, really healthy," he added.
This point of view is shared by Julie Ibach, 58 years old. “There was a little boy who had two penis-shaped stickers, and he was walking back and forth, and it made us laugh,” said the tourist from San Diego.
“Everyone plays the game and has fun,” she said. "You don't see that anywhere else."
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