Images for Japan’s Annual Penis Festival

An annual festival held to celebrate PENISES has been held - and hundreds have gathered to see enormous phalluses parade the streets.

Shinto Kanamara Matsuri, aka the Festival of the Steel Phallus, sees giant manhood-shaped shrines take over streets in Kawasaki, Japan.

Held every year, the event sees visitors coming from far afield to watch parades and chow down on phallus-shaped lollipops.

The event, which started in 1977 at the Kanayama Shrine , celebrates the male appendage and fertility .

It is believed to have its roots in the 17th Century, following the gory tale of a sharp-toothed demon who fell in love with a beautiful woman.

The Shinto Kanamara Matsuri (かなまら祭り?, "Festival of the Steel Phallus") is held each spring at the Kanayama Shrine (金山神社 Kanayama-jinja?) in Kawasaki, Japan. The exact dates vary: the main festivities fall on the first Sunday in April. The phallus, as the central theme of the event, is reflected in illustrations, candy, carved vegetables, decorations, and a mikoshi parade.

The Kanamara Matsuri is centred on a local penis-venerating shrine. The legend being that a sharp-toothed demon (vagina dentata) hid inside the vagina of a young woman and castrated two young men on their wedding nights. As a result, the young woman sought help from a blacksmith, who fashioned an iron phallus to break the demon's teeth, which led to the enshrinement of the item  This legend in Ainu language was published as "The Island of Women" by Basil Hall Chamberlain

The Kanayama Shrine was popular among prostitutes who wished to pray for protection from sexually transmitted infections.

It is also said the shrine offers divine protections for business prosperity, and for the clan's prosperity; and for easy delivery, marriage, and married-couple harmony.

The festival started in 1977. It used to be a small festival, but it has become bigger and bigger. Today, the festival has become something of a tourist attraction and is used to raise money for HIV research.