Tagata Jinja Hounen Matsuri 田県神社の豊年祭, 犬山、愛知県
The Tagata Jinja Hounen Sai (Tagata Jinja Phallic Festival) has grown in popularity over the years. The fertility festival held annually on March 15 attracts a lively crowd of both Japanese and foreign visitors.
They come to witness a 2.5 meter, approximately 300 kg wooden phallus being carried on a mikoshi (portable shrine), by teams of 12 men, the 1.5 km between Kumano Shrine and Tagata Shrine near Inuyama, just outside Nagoya in Aichi Prefecture, central Japan.
History
Tagata Jinja is believed to date back over 1500 years. It is dedicated to fertility, good harvests, and the natural bounty symbolized by the male phallus. The shrine is not a place of worship of the male member as such, but the natural fecundity, renewal, and growth the erect penis represents.
The shrine holds a number of phallic objects both natural and man-made. These were traditionally lent to individuals attempting to find a spouse or also conceive a child. If the outcome was successful, the ritual objects were returned to the shrine and a new one then made in gratitude by the recipient.
Phallic Representations
Tagata Jinja abounds with representations of the phallus, even the shrine’s bell is in the shape of a penis. During the year the shrine, located in the nondescript suburb of Komaki, is often visited by young couples who come to pray for the birth of a child.
Each year a new phallus is carved by a local master craftsman from a Japanese cypress tree (hinoki). Both the tree and the craftsman undergo various purification rites as the wood is carved over the winter months in readiness for the spring festival.
On the day of the festival, the procession starts from Kumano Shrine at 2 pm. The portable shrine is accompanied by Shinto priests, musicians playing ancient court music, local dignitaries, women carrying smaller wooden phalluses, and loud shouts of “wa-sha-i” as the heavy load is carried to its destination. Sake is freely dispensed in paper cups from a sake cart on the way and everyone is invited to touch and in some cases feign to suck the members on display.
The middle-aged Japanese men carrying some of the phalluses obviously get a great kick out of offering the wooden penises to Western women to fondle and caress (it’s their ultimate fantasy!) and the women are unashamedly turned on by the sight of so much hard, though wooden, cock.
Procession
The procession reaches Tagata Shrine at about 4 pm for the literal climax of the day’s events. A small portable shrine carries a wooden representation of Takeinadene-no-mikoto, the male deity visiting his female counterpart (and wife) Tamahime-no-mikoto, who is enshrined at Tagata Jinja. Next comes the huge phallus which is placed in the shrine for another year, the old phallus being sold off.
Accompanying the procession is a standard-bearer with a large banner featuring a phallus, musicians, Shinto priests, and miko shrine maidens carrying 60 cm wooden phalluses. There is also a figure wearing a long-nose mask portraying the deity Sarutahiko-no-okami. Also carried along are two sacred trees called sakaki, which used to be torn apart by the crowd at the end of the ceremony to ensure fertility.
The Tagata Jinja Hounen Sai is undoubtedly a fun day out. There are lots of stalls on the grounds selling chocolate-coated bananas, pink sugary phalluses, and the usual beer, fried noodles, fried potatoes, and takoyaki. Visitors can buy the shrine’s ema (votive plaques), carved wooden phalluses, keychains, and other lucky charms to take back home with them as souvenirs.
Also of interest is the nearby Ogata Jinja, where representations of the female vagina can be found.
Access – Getting There
Tagata Shrine
Aichi, Komaki-shi, Tagata-cho-152
Tel: 0568 76 2906
To get to Tagata Jinja take a Meitetsu train from Nagoya Station or Kanayama Station to Inuyama. Change to a Meitetsu Komaki Line train leaving from platform 3. Go three stops to Tagata Jinja Mae. Turn left out of the station and then left again at the main road. Tagata Jinja is about 400 meters on your right. To reach Kumano Shrine turn right out of Tagata Jinja, cross over the main road and Kumano Jinja is on your left as you climb the hill after crossing over the railway line.
Alternatively, take the Tsurumai Subway Line to Kami Otai. Then change to a Meitetsu Line train to Inuyama and then the Komaki Line to Tagata Jinja Mae.
Ogata (Oh-agata) Shrine (Tel: 0568 67 1017) is a ten-minute walk, turning right out of Gakuden Station on the Meitetsu Komaki Line.
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Videos
2012 Festival
2009 Festival
Japanese Festivals
Tokyo Detention House Festival