Nara
Feb 4
Asukaniimasu Shrine
Onda Matsuri is famously known as the ‘sexy rice-planting festival’ because the day marks the ‘first sun’ indicating the arrival of spring, and fertility and harvest go hand-in-hand. 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 copulating. 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!