Fertility Festival at Tagata Shrine in Japan

Fertility Festival at Tagata Shrine in Japan

A Shinto priest performs a ceremony before a wooden phallus during Honen-sai, a fertility festival at Tagata Shrine in Komaki, Aichi Prefecture, Japan. (All photos by Ben Weller/AFLO)

Fertility Festival at Tagata Shrine in Japan

Men carry a large wooden phallus on a portable shrine during the festival. Each year a craftsman carves a new phallus from a Japanese cypress tree. It measures almost 2.4 meters (13 feet) long and weights 280kg (620 pounds).

Fertility Festival at Tagata Shrine in Japan

The traditional Shinto festival celebrates fertility and a bountiful harvest. The principal offering during the festival is the large wooden phallus.

Fertility Festival at Tagata Shrine in Japan

Women make chocolate covered bananas shaped as phalluses for sale at the festival.

Fertility Festival at Tagata Shrine in Japan

Women carry wooden phalluses during Honen-sai.

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