But across Japan, you'll stand a better chance of marital success if the bride climbs atop a giant wooden penis and is paraded through town while waving to everyone.
The Hodare festival in the city of Nagaoka is considered one of the country's biggest, and best, penis festivals - and there are a few.
On the second Sunday of March each year, women who have wed in the past 12 months don traditional Japanese bridal gowns and straddle a totemic tool as it is carried through the streets.
The gigantic, seven foot phallus is celebrated as an emblem of good fortune, with huge crowds gathering to touch and stroke the mighty member as it passes.
The festivities are seen as bestowing fertility, marital bliss and good luck on those who participate.
17 comments:
Pregnancy lasts 10 months in Japan, another cultural factoid.
Douglas fur.
... and not a pussy hat on anyone!
That log should be sawn and quartered!
Not my idea of a woody.
They don't perhaps perform this parade in the morning?
The Romans did something similar, according to St Augustine.
Must be an empire thing.
It's only bizarre because it is a futile festival that has little to no affect on Japan's negative birth rate. They are a dying people and they don't care.
rhhardin said...
Pregnancy lasts 10 months in Japan, another cultural factoid.
Really, I thought it lasted a lifetime over there.
They start counting from the last period rather than the point of conception.
They start counting from the last period rather than the point of conception.
Here's the comparison chart which presents a different approach, based on 4 weeks to a month:
http://borbasabroad.blogspot.com/2011/11/only-in-japan-10-months-pregnant.html
The average menstrual cycle (so I've read) is 28 days. So a woman is pregnant for the equivalent of 10 cycles.
The duration of the calendar months was rejiggered throughout history. Other cultures, Japanese, Roman, etc., measured things differently.
The lunar cycle is closer to 28 days as well.
None of this explains Japan's falling birthrate.
My theory is that Japanese men spend far too much time watching porn. They constantly see their own penile inadequacy (compared to porn stars) and therefore fail to connect with real women out of shame. We all know how shame rules Japanese culture.
The Japanese are not a dying people. There are 126 million Japanese. While the population is declining it will still be substantial, around 100 million in 2050.
Unlike Europeans or North Americans, while Japan has a falling birth rate and will undoubtably have severe challenges with caring for their aging population, Japan remains Japanese. They don't import in millions of Muslims (they ban Muslims) and other foreign workers in Japan do not become citizens. So in the end, Japan remains Japanese (albeit with somewhat less Japanese than are there now).
Has anyone checked the growth rings on that log?
Japan vs. California (area)
Evi, while it's Japan's absolute right to let or keep out whomever they wish, let's be honest and clear in that they do it because they believe everyone else is gaijin and they are the golden people who will not allow, if at all possible, to dilute their racial purity. There is a word for it in Japanese, but I don't remember it right now.
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