Global Ilk Magazine Issue #3 || Kanamara Matsuri | Page 14

LEGENDS

THE LEDGEND OF
KANAMARA MATSURI

As with any celebration deriving
from legends there are quite a few
explaining the origin of Kanamara
Matsuri

THE LEGEND OF
THE GODS

Of course one legend has to
incorporate the Gods. This one is
about three.

THE LEGEND OF A
DEMON AND A VAGINA

It is exactly what it seems and more.
It is by far the most excepted legend
or at least the most told.

THE LEGEND OF
THE TRADERS TRAIL

This seems the most plausible but
it's nowhere near as fun to talk about
as the demon legend

There are a few different legends about
how Kanamara Matsuri came about. The less
known and by far the least accepted is that
when the Shinto goddess Izanami-no-Mikoto
gave birth to the sun god she suffered greatly
in childbirth and had injuries in the lower half
of her body. Then the two Gods of miners
and blacksmiths, enshrined at the Kanayama
Shrine, Kanayamahiko-no-Kami and
Kanayamahime-no-Kami healed Izanami.
So now those seeking help with any sort
of venereal disease, fertility or matrimonial
problems pray to the two gods of the shrine
and over time that evolved into a celebration
of fertility and Kanamara Matsuri.
A more historic reason for the festival
being held in Kawasaki of course begins in
the Edo period. Kawasaki was a well known
pit stop along the path of the Tokaido road,
a road used for trade, many would rest here
and enjoy not only housing but the multitude
of brothels in the town. It is believed that
these prostitutes would visit the shrine asking
for protection from sexually transmitted

diseases and this is what established the
celebration that continues today.
The much more exciting and accepted
legend of the Phallus itself dates back to the
1600's. The story is that a demon with sharp
teeth fell in love with a beautiful woman
but the woman loved someone else and
married this man. This made the demon
angry and it inhabited the woman’s vagania
prior to her wedding night and when he
husband was trying to consummate their
marriage the demon used it sharp teeth
to bite off the man’s penis. The woman
remarried and the demon did the same to
the second husband. This drove the woman
to speak with the local blacksmith about her
situation and the blacksmith constructed
a Steel Phallus that she inserted into her
vagaina breaking the teeth of the Demon.
This eventually lead to the enshrinement of
the steel phallus.
Whatever the reason for the festival it
has become a massive spectacle and I
could not be more thankful.

LETS TALK
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