A large pink phallic-shaped ‘Mikoshi’ is paraded through the streets during Kanamara Matsuri (Picture: Carl Court/Getty Images)

No, this isn’t an April Fools’ joke – there is actually a penis festival going on in Japan today.

Yep, you read that right – a festival dedicated to penises is currently taking place in Kawasaki right now.

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Incredible.

Tens of thousands flock to Shinto Kanamara Matsuri each year as giant phalluses – some as big as fully grown men – parade through the streets in tribute to the penis.


Also known as the Festival of the Steel Phallus – or Willy Festival – the annual celebration is held on the first Sunday of April at the Kanayama Shrine.

Penis-shaped floats are held aloft during the sreet parades while both the young and old enjoy phallus-themed candy, chocolate and lollipops and pose with penis-shaped sculptures.

A woman kisses a phallus-shaped lollipop during the Kanamara Matsuri (Picture: EPA/Christopher Jue)

A visitor wearing a phallus hat and nose poses for a photograph (Picture: Aflo/REX/Shutterstock)

A man wears a phallus-shaped mask (Picture: EPA/Christopher Jue)

A large pink phallic-shaped ‘Mikoshi’ is paraded through the streets (Picture: Carl Court/Getty Images)

Visitors also don penis beaks, carry giant penis purses and some even straddle a giant wooden phallus.



The festival celebrates fertility and also raises awareness about safe sex practices and funds for HIV charities.

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It focuses around a penis-shaped shrine that prostitutes used to pray under to ask for protection against sexually transmitted diseases.

A huge iron dildo that sits in the Kanayama shrine is also a big part of the festival.

Legend has it that in the Edo Period (1603-1868) a sharp-toothed demon who live inside a woman’s vagina castrated several men on their wedding nights.

Women react to the camera as they eat phallic-shaped lollipops (Picture: Carl Court/Getty Images)

A man wears a phallic-shaped hat during Kanamara Matsuri (Picture: Carl Court/Getty Images)

A visitor wearing a phallus hat poses for a photograph (Picture: Aflo/REX/Shutterstock)

Participants carry a portable shrine with a large phallus through the street (Picture: EPA/Christopher Jue)

But a quick-thinking local blacksmith came to the rescue and forged a massive iron dildo to break the demon’s teeth.

And in honour of the Shinto deities of fertiliy, childbirth and protection, a three-foot steel phallus now sits in the shrine’s courtyard.

Sex workers used to go the shrine to pray they would be protected from sexually transmitted diseases.

A tourist poses for a photograph next to a large pink phallic-shaped ‘Mikoshi’ before it is paraded through the streets (Picture: Carl Court/Getty Images)

A woman eats a phallus-shaped lollipop (Picture: EPA/Chrisopher Jue)

A woman eats a phallic-shaped lollipop during Kanamara Matsuri (Picture: Carl Court/Getty Images)

A large black phallic-shaped ‘Mikoshi’ is carried to Kanayama Shrine (Picture: Carl Court/Getty Images)

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