Steel Phallus Festival(かなまら祭り) - Kanayama Shrine(金山神社)
Bill: "What's this?"
Hillary: "Ema(絵馬)." Bill: "Not Ema." Hillary: "It's Ema! You don't know?" Bill: "I know well. I show you more." |
Bill: "What's this?"
Hillary: "Omikoshi(お神輿)." Bill: "Inside. Inside." Hillary: "Pitch dark. I can't see anything." Bill: "Me, neither. My bad." |
Steel Phallus Festival(かなまら祭り) was held at Kanayama Shrine(金山神社) on the 6th of April, 2014. Kanayama Shrine enshrines a deity of steel, Kanayamahiko no Kami(金山彦神) , who took care of Izanami(伊邪那美命) who gave birth to Japan's islands and suffered from post-birth trauma. Just a few people come here to seriously pray for being blessed with children. Most people like me were here just for joy! As long as I looked around, approximately one third of people were from overseas.
Many people stood in line to make their wish. By the way.........Why was this man on the bottom-right sitting and seeing others praying? Something weird. |
These are pens. Funny to say, "This is a pen." is the first English sentence which most Japanese learn at school.
A staff said "Funya chXn dayoooon(Soft pXnXs)." with making especially ladies touch those. Here are illustrations called "Shijū Hatte(四十八手)" which expresses 48 sexual positions which was developed 200 to 300 years ago. |
Around 11:00AM, prayer time came. However, some people chatted and walked to and fro. It was far from sacred. This was the most squeezed festival ever. Here, filthy words are allowed in public. When some people, especially ladies, squeeze their way, they say "ChXnkX tōrimaaaaaasu(Let pXnXs through)!" or "ChXnkX ni tsuitekite(Follow pXnXs)!" with holding up high pXnxs candies.
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I got a best position to see Mikoshi(神輿) marching near Torii(鳥居)/Gate of shrine. But, people came one after another. I ended up moving back. Traffic control was ill-managed. Generally, like this festival, the street is free of vehicle. People crossed a street from random places at individual discretion. As you predict, a visitor was crushed by a car. Its side mirror flied apart. The man crouched there with holding his right arm. At that time, a drunken person came and yelled at people. Policemen grabbed him and made him calm down.
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Around noon, Mikoshi marching started.
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URL
Official Site(Japanese): http://kawasakidaishi-kanko.com/wakamiyahachimangu/index.html When 1st Sunday on every April Location 2-13-16 Daishi Ekimae, Kawasaki, Kawasaki, Kanagawa Access |