What is the Kanamara Festival in Japan?

Kanamara Matsuri
A festival where size matters Kawasaki’s Kanamara Matsuri in early April is one of Japan’s most raucous spring festivals. It involves an energetic procession of three phallic portable shrines and a variety of food and goods shaped to match the occasion.

What does the word Matsuri mean?

festival
matsuri, (Japanese: “festival”), in general, any of a wide variety of civil and religious ceremonies in Japan; more particularly, the shrine festivals of Shintō.

What is the purpose of Kanamara Matsuri?

The Kanamara Matsuri is centered on the Kanayama Shrine where the god Kanayama-hiko and the goddess Kanayama-hime are venerated. They are both gods of blacksmithing, metalsmithing, and metal works, and are also prayed to for easy childbirth, marital harmony, and protection from sexually transmitted infections.

Why does Japan celebrate Kanamara Matsuri?

Kanamara Matsuri – A Unique Festival In Kawasaki Kanamara Masuri, taking place every year in April in Kawasaki, is a Japanese spring festival held as a prayer for fertility, smooth marital relationships and business prosperity.

What is Matsuri sauce?

The secret to Matsuri sauce is the “Blend organic manufacturing method,” which involves selecting the finest crops grown in rich nature (organic tomato, onion, and apple), and making the sauce without haste to bring out the smell and flavors of the vegetable and fruits. This is how the Matsuri original sauce was born.

What festivals do shintos celebrate?

Festivals

• Shinto festivals – Matsuri.
• Oshogatsu (New Year)
• Seijin Shiki (Adults’ Day)
• Haru Matsuri (Spring festivals)
• Aki Matsuri (Autumn festivals)
• Shichigosan.
• Rei-sai (Annual Festival)

How do shintos worship?

Private and public worship Although Shinto worship features public and shared rituals at local shrines, it can also be a private and individual event, in which a person at a shrine (or in their home) prays to particular kami either to obtain something, or to thank the kami for something good that has happened.

What is the Shintoism symbol?

Perhaps the most recognizable symbols of Shintoism are the majestic gates that mark the entrance to Shinto shrines. Made of wood or stone, these two-post gateways are known as “torii” and show the boundaries in which a kami lives.

How do Japanese celebrate festival?

Festivals in Japan are based on one main celebration theme at a time and are complete with food, games and all-around entertainment. They can be found all over the shop, from parks with fireworks or temples and shrines.

How do Japanese celebrate?

The Japanese also celebrate many festivals, or matsuri’s, throughout the year. The dates change dates every year, but many occur around traditional holidays like Setsubun, a celebration of seasonal division every spring, and Obon, the celebration of one’s ancestors in August.

Why are ancestors important in Shintoism?

Shinto believes that the ancestral spirits will protect their descendants. The prayers and rituals performed by the living honor the dead and memorialize them. In return, the spirits of the dead offer protection and encouragement for the living.

What is the purpose of the Kanamara Festival?

The festival started in 1969. Today, it has become something of a tourist attraction and is used to raise money for HIV research. At the Kanamara Festival, three portable shrines, “Kankiiamara Mikoshi,” “Kanayama Boat Mikoshi,” and “Elizabeth Mikoshi,” are patrolled.

What is the meaning of Kanamara Matsuri?

Kanamara Matsuri. The Shinto Kanamara Matsuri (かなまら祭り, “Festival of the Steel Phallus”) is held each spring at the Kanayama Shrine (金山神社, Kanayama-jinja) in Kawasaki, Japan. The exact dates vary: the main festivities fall on the first Sunday in April.

When and where is the Kanayama Festival 2019?

When: First Sunday in April (next event: April 7th, 2019). Where: Kanayama Shrine on the grounds of Wakamiya Hachimangu Temple, Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan. Time: Officially 11am to around 4pm, however, this festival is getting so incredibly popular these days, it’s already packed at 9am.

What is it about Japan’s festivals?

Japan’s festivals are opportunities for local people to exchange the strictures of daily life for drinking, dancing and generally cutting loose. At the Kanamara Matsuri, or the Festival of the Steel Phallus, it’s sexual repression that gets set aside for one joyful day of cross-dressing, penis-shaped lollipops and, of course, a few giant phalluses.