Mara Kannon Temple, Japan
In 1551, during the Warring States period in Japan, samurai lord Ōuchi Yoshitaka was betrayed by his vassal and was forced to commit seppuku (suicide). His eldest son, also named Yoshitaka, was captured and killed at the age of seven, while his youngest son Kanjumaru successfully fled to the mountains disguised as a peasant girl. However, in 1552 enemies found the five-year-old Kanjumaru and murdered him at the same site as his brother.
Feeling pity for the ill-fated brothers, nearby villagers erected a temple at the site of their deaths and dedicated it to Kannon, the goddess of mercy.
As a side note, Canon, the Japanese camera company, was also named after Kannon.
Approaching the temple, you see some giant penises. What's that about? The five-year-old boy was not only murdered, but they cut off his penis. The Mara Kannon temple has become a shrine to the penis (Mara is the name of a demon, but it also means penis), and people pray in the temple for fertility.
The interior of the temple. There are penises everywhere.
People bring votive phalluses to the temple. Writing your wishes on them, as well as patting the stone phalluses outside the temple, is said to bring good luck.
They apparently needed somewhere to store the old phalluses in order to make room for the new ones that people keep bringing. There must be thousands of phalluses in this shed.
Where can you get the phalluses? You can buy them in shops in the nearby town of Tawarayama.
There's more to do in Tawarayama than visiting the penis temple. Tawarayama has hot springs, called onsen in Japanese. Above, a guy named Mark getting ready to bathe in an onsen, which involves getting completely naked.
That photo of Mark is from the video above, filmed not in Tawarayama but in Nozawa, another onsen town. In the video he shows us how to bathe in a Japanese onsen. There's a certain etiquette that must be followed. Even if you're not concerned with Japanese etiquette, you'll find Mark worth looking at.
8 comments:
Mark is so nice and good looking! here a post of mine about Kanamara Matsuri.
Take a look here, about greek φαλληφόρια.
Very impressed with Mark, and not just from a nudity standpoint. So comfortable with his body, all the while providing such a clear commentary about the whole bathing process from beginning to end. Thanks for finding this bit of film.
The penis temple inspired me to post my own version. Yes, Mark is quite nice-looking.
Went to an onsen in Kyoto and loved it. I wish we had that level of comfort about men being naked together, including fathers and sons, adult brothers, friends. We also have Korean spas in the US in many big cities. They are similar and usually much bigger.
I love how educational this site is ;-)
I also love the comment about "you should show this to kids in Tokyo" - kids are the same the world over ;-)
Went to an onsen while in Kyoto years ago and definitely stood out as a foreigner. An older gentleman asked if it was my first time (it was) and he took the time to show me proper protocol at an onsen. Really appreciated that he took the time to show me how it's all done. Just itching to go back to Kyoto!
Another onsen video with a Nordic-looking guy: https://youtu.be/GdOZsICgoxI?si=IA4NapHNRUvCGGgR
Post a Comment