Asukaniimasu Shrine, Nara

The Onda Festival is also called the ‘sexy rice-planting festival’ because the day marks the ‘first sun’ indicating the arrival of spring, and fertility and harvest go together in Japan. On this day, people worship the gods so that they might be blessed with a good rice harvest. The ceremony starts with a prayer offering, which is followed by ‘marriage play’ between a tengu (goblin) and a human woman. Two male actors; one dressed as a tengu and the other as a woman, pretend to be a married couple having sex! This part of the festival is very graphic with various sexual positions enacted as well as plenty of spanking. A third person who is a masked priest gives them a helping hand in getting the job done! Hilarious to watch, and spectators can even get spanked by the performers if they so wish!