JAPAN’s annual penis festival has kicked off with phallic-shaped floats and food to celebrate an ancient legend.

Thousands of people flooded the streets of Kawasaki to take part in the Kanamara Matsuri — the Festival of the Steel Phallus.

The Sun reports that during the event, giant steel phalluses are paraded through huge crowds on portable shrines.

Festival-goers were pictured snapping selfies with penis sculptures and buying various forms of memorabilia.

The festival started in 1969 and has become a tourist attraction as well as raising awareness about safe sex, raising money for HIV research and celebrating fertility.

But there is also another side to the event.

Legend has it that around the 17th century, a demon hid inside the vagina of an unrequited love.

He is believed to have then bitten off the penises of the woman’s first two husbands.

The cursed woman, along with a blacksmith, created a steel penis in order to break the jealous demon’s teeth and get rid of him forever.

Meanwhile, ink enthusiasts flocked to Moscow this week to show off their impressive body art for the Moscow Tattoo Festival.

Participants ranged from the mildly adorned to the completely covered for the event that is dedicated to all things tattoo.

The event was hosted at Moscow’s Amber Plaza Shopping Centre and offered guests a range of ink-related activities.

The program included a tattoo contest, a body taping art marathon, masterclasses and roundtable discussions.

This article originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced with permission.