Honen festival draws curiosity-seekers

KOMAKI � One man said he first heard of Komaki City�s Honen Matsuri when he was a high school student, surreptitiously flipping through the pages of Playboy at his local 7-11.

Though seen by many as a mere oddity or spectacle, the Bumper Harvest festival is a 1,500-year-old tradition steeped in symbolism and history. Its centerpiece is a show-stopper: a 2.5-meter, 280-kilogram phallus carved from a single cypress tree; it�s complemented by hundreds, if not thousands, of smaller phalluses, some perched on pedestals, some cradled in the arms of female paraders, some rendered in chocolate and for sale at concession stands, some fashioned as key chains.

Every March 15, the phallus is carried through the city, from Shinmei-sha shrine to Tagata shrine, where it�s placed in a symbolic, if not suggestive, gesture to ensure a healthy and hearty crop. This year, the procession got under way at 2 p.m., meandering through the town for more than 90 minutes before it reached its final destination.

As the parade made its way through the streets of Komaki, more than 230,000 people (the official headcount, announced later in the day) strained to catch a glimpse of the phallus or to rub one of four smaller icons held by women, each dressed in kimono and not one bit bashful about their cargo. In many places, with onlookers lined 10 deep behind a flimsy yellow rope held by police, the pathway was constricted to barely a meter wide.

Because the festival's imagery is so arresting � some say borderline pornographic -- many forget that it's goal is dead serious : to ensure a bountiful harvest and the perpetuation of life. City legend says that Tamahime, the daughter of a powerful Yamato-Era lord, lived on the grounds where the Tagata Shrine was built. The site, therefore, is imbued with feminine characteristics and virtues. When the phallus enters the shrine, male and female forces join and give birth to agricultural prosperity and new human life.

Head and shoulders among most in the crowd, foreign spectators were not shy about commenting on the day's events.

"It's our first time here," Bill Meshack, a Texan now residing in Yokota, said. �We wanted to take in some Japanese tradition. Also, my wife and I are interested in becoming more fertile.�

Theresa Smith, also of Yokota and a native of Denver, was standing near Meshack and said, �I just came to see the sights. I�m not interested in becoming more fertile.�

�This reminds me a lot of Mardi Gras,� said Jennifer Powers, a native of New Orleans who lives in Yokosuka. �I�m interested to see the floats and what they throw from them. I�ve heard it can get pretty crazy.�

Other observers were more philosophical. The man who said he had seen pictures of Honen Matsuri in Playboy said, "I think this helps explain the Japanese preoccupation with sex. I think it�s a logical progression from this ancient rite, a modern social distortion of something that once was pure and altruistic. "

"It�s amazing a country that�s so inhibited has so many penises everywhere," said Erin Leavitt of Atsugi, Kanagawa Prefecture. "But it�s by far the best festival I�ve been to."