In Kawasaki, near Tokyo, crowds packed the streets on Sunday for Japan’s annual fertility festival, Kanamara Matsuri. Tourists, couples and families gathered to watch parades featuring brightly coloured phallus-shaped shrines, pink sweets and lively music.
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The spring event dates back to the Edo period, when legend tells of a demon defeated by an iron phallus forged by a local blacksmith. Today, a steel sculpture stands at Kanayama Shrine, dedicated to fertility, childbirth and protection from infections. Chief priest Hiroyuki Nakamura says the celebration aims to challenge taboos around sex and highlight life’s natural cycles.
Despite a declining birth rate, the festival’s joyful tone and diversity offer a gentle message: openness and humour can foster connection more effectively than stigma.
