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Apr 03 2012 25 Comments

Japanese fertility festival costumes and conversations

Japanese fertility festivals aren’t necessarily for the faint of heart, but what they definitely are is fun; good-natured bawdiness that remarkably never seems to slip into sleaziness.

What these events also do is effortlessly mix the traditional, with the not so traditional, such as the standard happi coat and a rather less conventional penis costume. A contrast that is clear to see, although what kind of conversations it conjures up is pure — and possibly puerile — conjecture.

Kanamara Festival

Categorized: Culture, Odd, Photography, Religion

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Matt says

    4/3/2012 at 8:55 am

    I think it best i say nothing.

    Reply
    • Matt says

      4/3/2012 at 8:56 am

      Although the Happi Coat was not what i imagined.

      Reply
      • Lee says

        4/3/2012 at 1:20 pm

        I dare say it wasn’t. But what about the penis costume?!

        Reply
  2. winnie says

    4/3/2012 at 10:38 am

    I am speechless due to astonishment.

    The expression of lady in Pink is like “what happen?”, maybe clueless of the man trying to say?

    Reply
    • Lee says

      4/3/2012 at 1:21 pm

      I honestly have no idea, but whatever it was, it certainly amused the fella to the left.

      Reply
  3. JohnO says

    4/3/2012 at 10:45 am

    Ha, looks to me like size is a topic of discussion!! Got to love Japan!

    Reply
    • Lee says

      4/3/2012 at 1:22 pm

      Haha, very true. And I dare say it wasn’t the size of his happi coat that they were discussing!

      Reply
  4. Hans ter Horst says

    4/3/2012 at 3:10 pm

    Somehow I find it all right as long as a woman is in the costume. 🙂 On the other hand, from this angle and with the thing wrapped around his head, the dude’s head also looks like a “helmet.”

    Reply
    • Lee says

      4/3/2012 at 5:11 pm

      Unfortunately there was also a man dressed in equally special headwear…

      Reply
  5. Dan Ryan says

    4/3/2012 at 9:17 pm

    Ye gods, Lee, this is brilliant.

    Reply
    • Lee says

      4/3/2012 at 11:39 pm

      Cheers Dan!

      Reply
  6. Andy says

    4/3/2012 at 10:06 pm

    Can’t… resist making… obvious dickhead-related comment…!

    Reply
    • Lee says

      4/3/2012 at 11:40 pm

      Somebody had to!

      Reply
  7. Ali Payton says

    4/3/2012 at 10:55 pm

    And what could she possibly be explaining using those hand gestures? 😉

    Reply
    • Lee says

      4/3/2012 at 11:42 pm

      I couldn’t even begin to imagine!

      Reply
  8. Tyler says

    4/3/2012 at 11:04 pm

    This is gold Lee, I lol’d to the point of tears

    Reply
    • Lee says

      4/3/2012 at 11:43 pm

      Thanks Tyler. Good to hear you enjoyed it.

      Reply
  9. Takeshi says

    4/3/2012 at 11:09 pm

    I always end up having to do something every first Sunday of April since I went here 2 years ago. Urgh, lucky you went haha

    Reply
    • Lee says

      4/3/2012 at 11:46 pm

      This was only the second time I’ve been. The first was a good few years ago. To be honest though, the huge increase in visitors made it a lot less enjoyable this time. Just too many people, in such a small place.

      Reply
  10. Jim! says

    4/4/2012 at 12:11 am

    Looks like she’s explaining something hard.

    Reply
    • Lee says

      4/4/2012 at 8:57 am

      Yes, clearly something she’s struggling to get to grips with.

      Reply
  11. Damon Coulter says

    4/4/2012 at 12:33 am

    Ah Lee! Missed you there, must have been in bumping into you as well and never got to say “hello!” As you said the massive increase in people made it not that much fun, I remember being able to move quite freely around the festival before. This time it was difficult to move at all and difficult to get a clear shot of anyone, however dressed. Still, the challenge is there and you have done well with this lady, love it missed her myself though wanted to take a shot just the grammatical anagrams of a “woman in a penis” headlines I would have used to get ridiculous amounts of hits. Had to make do with Batman’s cock on my own blog post of the event. Catch up next time somewhere for sure. Damon

    Reply
    • Lee says

      4/4/2012 at 9:06 am

      Cheers Damon.

      It was so packed, even if we’d tried to meet up we probably wouldn’t have seen each other. I recall it being the same when I went the first time. In fact there were so many people packed into the shrine area, there didn’t even seem to be any space for the mischievous carving of daikon.

      That’s a good shot of Batman you go got. How bizarre was that? Saw him briefly, and he came as quite a surprise I have to say!

      Reply
  12. MrSatyre says

    4/4/2012 at 4:22 am

    Woman: “But…you said it would be only THIS big!”
    Man: “So, what are trying to tell me?”
    Woman: “It’s too big! It hurts!”

    Reply
  13. El-Branden Brazil says

    4/10/2012 at 5:55 pm

    That woman looks hard, but no doubt, an upstanding member of society.

    Reply

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