Most places, in spring a young man’s fancy turns to love. But for the Japanese, bless them, thoughts turn to the annual Shinto Kanamara Matsuri, aka the Penis Festival, and not just young men’s thoughts either. Revelers in Kawasaki today (Sunday) pulled giant penises through the streets and sucked on penis lollipops. Mildly NSFW story here: www.bangkokpost.com/news/asia/919677/size-matters-at-japan-phallus-festival
Excerpt: **"Known as the Festival of the Steel Phallus – or colloquially as the ‘Willy Festival’ – legend has it that in the Edo Period (1603-1868) a sharp-toothed demon inhabiting a woman’s vagina castrated several unfortunate young men on their wedding nights.
“A local blacksmith came to the rescue by forging an iron dildo to break the demon’s teeth and today a three-foot (one-metre) black steel phallus sits in the shrine’s courtyard to honour the Shinto deities of fertility, childbirth and protection from sexually transmitted infections.”**
Some very NSFW photos of the festival two years ago here: Japan's Annual Penis Festival Is As Phallic As You'd Expect (PHOTOS) | HuffPost Weird News