Japan: Kawasaki Penis Temple

Yes, that’s right, and although the Japanese call it much ruder so as not to offend someone’s hearing, I will call it neatly "the temple of the penises." The official name of Kanamara-jinja, it is located just a stone's throw from the Kawasaki-dishi station, although it is completely absent from all tourist schemes, either because of its extreme indecency, or because the place is not quite tourist and carry people to this in general, a small temple - only time to lose.

Many Japanese themselves have not heard and do not know about this and similar temples throughout Japan, and when they find out, they say that this is a very obscene and indecent sight, preserved from the ancient times, when chaste Buddhism has not yet triumphed over fun and Shinto free from all limits of decency.

Therefore, if you do not know about this temple in advance, you may not notice it, the gates are completely unremarkable, and nothing reprehensible is visible from the street.

Priest's house.

Ancient lantern.

Actually, the temple itself. It is small, but inside contains a huge wooden penis, which is carried out on major holidays. Smaller penises were stuck in different corners of the yard. All these holidays belonged to the most ancient Shinto tradition, when no Buddhism in Japan smelled and flourished of a fertility cult like those that dominated in Babylon, Ancient Greece and other archaic eastern civilizations, and in them they established themselves from quite primitive traditional festivals and common tribal institutions with which people lived 10,000 years ago.

Therefore, of course, it is surprising that all this has survived in relative safety to the present day. These penises, like the Shiva lingam, also the life-giving beginning of the god-creator of peace in Hinduism, are placed in the corners of the courtyard, embarrassing strangers to traditions, of which there are many young Japanese.

In any case, when you start telling them that you went to such a temple, they do not even first believe that they have such a thing in Japan, and then they are indignant and say that this disgrace must be removed, this is a shame for Japan. By the way, it is interesting that there is still an anvil in front of this penis - also a sacred object. In Japan, as in other ancient civilizations, blacksmiths who tamed metal were considered to be associated with witchcraft and shamanism, and the idol worshiped by the blacksmiths was precisely the iron penis that they set before themselves. This supposedly tamed the evil goddesses who owned the underworld.

Of course, in the temple there are a lot of very peculiar prayer plates of em, like those that are put in the heading, or such. They depict either a penis or a baby hatching from an egg.

Of course, both the idea and the wishes written on them are understandable. Many women specially come here to pray for the bestowal of children or healing from infertility.

Despite the concealment of information, the temple is very popular on holidays, firstly, due to its proximity to Tokyo and other megacities, such as Yokagama, and secondly, because of its scandal.

The temple is lined with foxes, guardian spirits, and, as follows from the information, these are donations from visitors who received the prayers.

In short, a visit to such temples, which many Japanese are embarrassed by themselves, only says that all the allegations that Shinto is a harmless humanistic religion, akin to Buddhism, are broken about the obvious presence of an animistic cult of fertility.