Known as the Festival of the Steel Phallus - or colloquially as the "Willy Festival" - legend has it that in the Edo Period (1603-1868) a sharp-toothed demon inhabiting a woman's vagina castrated several unfortunate young men on their wedding nights.

A local blacksmith came to the rescue by forging an iron dildo to break the demon's teeth and today a 1m black steel phallus sits in the shrine's courtyard to honour the Shinto deities of fertility, childbirth and protection from sexually transmitted infections.

Over the centuries, sex workers also made a pilgrimage to the shrine to seek its powers of protection before the festival became a tourist attraction in the 1970s.

"I think it's brilliant," said Sayuri Kubo, a 14-year-old schoolgirl proudly holding an erotic lollipop. "The mikoshi (portable shrine) parade was awesome."

Three mikoshi are lugged through the streets of Kawasaki, including a giant pink phallus called Elizabeth, donated by a local drag queen club.

There is a serious side to the frivolity, despite the bizarre sight of normally reserved Japanese housewives posing for snapshots with oversized dildos. [straitstimes.com]

Damn...was that today? I would've stayed home in honor of this great occasion!