Tagata Honen-Sai, Tagata-jinja Shrine, Inuyama, Japan

A 3-metre (approx. 10-ft) long wooden phallus is carried out of the shrine of the god Izanagi (‘the male who invites’; a deity in Japanese mythology and then Shintoism), at Tagata-jinja near Inuyama in central Honshu and through the streets.

A kind of insemination magic ritual is enacted as the bearers of the phallus offer drinks to farmers, and infertile couples touch the phalluses for luck ...

Tagged: japan, calendar-customs, festival, deity