Kristina in Tokyo

Monday, April 03, 2006

Kanamara matsuri

We went to a rather strange festival this last weekend, which I am posting for cultural value, of course... It is called Kanamara Matsuri, and it roughly translates to the "festival of the steel phallus," though some call it a fertility festival. The entire festival centers on a certain sensitive part of the male anatomy and priestesses and priests offer blessings to many, many effigies of this particular body part. Lest you think I'm kidding, there are articles explaining Kanamara Matsuri as a religious festival at a local shrine (actually called Kanamara "steel phallus" Shrine) in Kawasaki (about 20 minutes south of Tokyo) here, here, and here. At Kanamara shrine, there are actual permanent installations of phallic sculptures along with the well-attended annual festival. If this religious event offends your sensibilities, please read no further, as yes, there will be photos.

According to this site, which gives the most succinct explanation: "The legend goes that there was a demon living in the vaginas of the women in this area and a local metal-smith forged a steel phallus which broke the demons teeth and thus ridding the town of it forever. This legend was mostly wishful thinking on the part of the locals, many of whom had caught venereal diseases from the prostitutes that were common in this area in the Edo

Period (1603-1867), during which this festival began. Even today Kawasaki is famous for its red-light district."

One word: ouch.

During a hanami in Ueno Park last week, we met some gaijin who were teaching English in Kawasaki and told us about Kanamara Matsuri. I was a bit incredulous, but did some research and found out that this was an actual festival that was occuring in a week. Kanamara Matsuri brought an eclectic group of people out to "worship" at the shrine: curious and clueless gaijin, drag queens and Harajuku goths, and just regular old Nihon-jin (Japanese) who were there for the party. Vendors sold plenty of phallic paraphenalia: lollipops, bananas, hot dogs, and assorted sculptures and souveniers. And of course, alcohol.

Here is one of the ceremony participants making an offering of laurel branches to the steel phallus. During this part of the ceremony, priestesses said prayers and made offerings to the phalluses, while obnoxious drunk Americans couldn't help but yell things like "Ohmigod, can you believe this is happening?? The sisters at Alpha Alpha Phi are never going to believe this!" I was annoyed at first, but was reminded that if they're going to serve alcohol to ignorant gaijin at 10 a.m. they have to expect, if not condone this sort of behavior.

After the short prayer service, the festivities began. There was a daikon radish carving contest, where the favorite body part was put into vegetable form and auctioned off to the highest bidder (I heard that the proceeds go to HIV/AIDS research, but since I saw no AIDS awareness groups at the festival, color me dubious).

A band played the same song over and over and there was a taiko performance as well.

Just to prove that there was an eclectic crowd present at Kanamara Matsuri, here are some colorful folks that were in attendance, including a drag queen that took it upon herself to direct traffic during the procession of the phalluses, where effigies were carried through the streets of Kawasaki in celebration, I guess, of the vanquishing of that nasty demon.

But, proving that it wasn't just the crazies who were at the Sunday morning festival, here is a photo that shows you that Kanamara Matsuri was a family affair.

And let's not forget about the procession. Here are some photos of the parade.

Ah, Japan! Never ceases to amaze me!

We also saw a less exciting, but very pretty shrine in Kawasaki, but it had a really nice pagoda and a much, much tamer religious ceremony.

Labels: Festivals, Oddities, Sakura

Sunday, February 05, 2006

Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!

Setsubun (Feb. 3, 2006)

Had the incredible fortune of being in Tokyo for Setsubun, known to me and other ignorant (yet knowledgable) Americans as "Oni Day." For a far better, more specific description of what goes on during Setsubun, see here, here, and here. Suffice to say that beans (mame - 豆) are thrown at devils (oni - 鬼) to banish them from the home and bring good luck instead. The traditional thing to say is Oni wa soto, fuku wa uchi! (Devil go out, good luck come in). My friend Jeremy and I went to Zojoji Temple to celebrate Setsubun and experienced a crowd crushing much like any standing room only rock concert that I've been to. Only this one was replete with old ladies, licking their lips and ready for the loot that would be thrown from the stage into the crowds below and old men just waiting to elbow their way past you for the free tissues and popcorn.

Don't mess with these ladies: they were armed with scarves, bags, and other catching

accoutrements and were armed and ready for the kill.

Before the festivities began, we were treated to a procession of musicians, temple patrons, and adorable kindergarteners armed with their own OniFighting gear (my guess is that they wore oni masks to confuse the actual oni - smart move!).

We were treated to three onis (red, blue, and yellow) who wore comically scary masks, gym shorts and had some pretty great fake bushy chest hair. Half the kindergartners looked like a hybrid of scared and excited while the other half were just plain glad to do some oni hunting...

Afterwards we were visited by a mystical anthropomorphic bag of popcorn, nicknamed Corn Chan by the event's announcers and the crowd moved in closer as they prepared to make the mochi by heating a gooey rice mixture and pounding it. After the mochi was made, the throwers on stage positioned themselves behind boxes on stage and tossed them out...

And one missed my eye by about an inch. I fought an old man for the mochi that had fallen to the ground and he gave up once he realized that the gaijin girl really wanted her loot. Yep. It was rock hard and not very tasty, but I won it! Corn Chan and his crew then threw out some bags of popcorn before the big event, the mame maki (bean throwing)!

Cutest little kids ever! Didn't think that they'd be devil-killers...

Oooh, red oni!

The kids ran at the onis and threw the beans to the uproarious cries of "Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!" and they growled and were eventually driven away. But that didn't stop there from being more throwing of presents - more tissues and dish scrubbers and scarves and bouncy balls and plenty of make (in order for people to do bean throwing at home to protect their own homes from those dastardly onis). I only got hit by one thing this time, but almost fell over when the crowd swayed back and forth in order to get in the crossfire of free loot.

So serious for people who are going to be throwing presents!

Like so!

Much fun for all! Afterwards, I went and got my fortune (big luck!) and lit some incense. We visited a shrine, but were informed that it only had one god, so it might not be worth visiting. It was still pretty neat though and was able to take some good photos and then take my own revenge on an oni (see OniBun below). All in all, a pretty good Setsubun.