Tagata Jinja Shrine

Tagata Jinja is a Shinto Shrine in Komaki City, just north of Nagoya. Unfortunately, we missed the annual festival, which is held every March 15th. It's a festival that celebrates a plentiful harvest, peace, and fertility. It's commonly referred to as the "Japanese Penis Festival," and includes food, dancing, and a parade. The main attraction is a 2.5 meter long 620 pound wooden phallus that was carved from a single Japanese cypress tree.

Even though we missed the festival, we decided to visit the shrine anyway - since Joe and I have never been before, and it's a unique experience for foreigners. I read that for most of the year, Tagata Jinja is very quiet. Most of the visitors are young couples, sometimes coming to pray for successful conception, and sometimes coming to give thanks for a safe child birth.

The entire temple had a variety of phallus shaped objects, including the rocks surrounding the shrine. I have included a few pictures below, but they are obviously not appropriate for all readers.

Giant penis on display inside the temple.

Variety of phallus shaped objects surrounding the giant penis.

Another giant penis inside another temple.

Even the rocks outside where penis-shaped.