One of the most unusual and notorious festivals in Japan

The  Kanamara Matsuri (かなまら祭り, "Festival of the Steel Phallus") one of Japan's most unusual and notorious festivals,is held each spring at the Kanayama shrine (金山神社) in kawasaki, Japan. The exact dates vary: the main festivities fall on the first Sunday in April(6th April,2014). The penis, as the central theme of the event, is reflected in illustrations, candy, carved vegetables, decorations, and a Mikoshi  parade.It's a penis-venerating celebration which originated in the Edo period of Japan (1603-1867), when local prostitutes would come to the small suburban shrine and pray for good business and protection from venereal diseases. Each year when Japan's cherry blossoms bloomed, these women would carry a schlong-shaped object through the streets before settling in for a picnic in the shrine's courtyard.

Fast forward to the present day and things are more or less the same — except for the addition of cross-dressing, European faces and a covers band churning through some of pop music's dodgier moments.

The Kanamara Matsuri is centered around a local penis-venerating shrine once popular among prostitues who wished to pray for protection from sexually transmitted disease. It is said that there are also divine protections for business prosperity and for the clan's prosperity; and for easy delivery, marriage, and married-couple harmony. There is also a legend of a sharp-toothed demon (vagina dentata) that hid inside the vagina of a young woman and castrates two young men on their wedding nights. As a result, the young woman sought help from a blacksmith, who fashioned an iron phallus to break the demon's teeth, which led to the enshrinement of the item.

Today, the festival has become something of a tourist attraction and is used to raise money for HIV research.