No Sausage???

I received an email from a friend who is aware of my struggle with infertility. The email was titled “Happy Holidays” and included the following message and pictures:

How could we have missed it? March 15 was Penis Day in Japan. Here are the photos. The actual festival is called Honen Matsuri. Celebrated every March 15 in Komaki, a town about 45 minutes north of Nagoya, Japan, this is the time of year where folks haul out a large wooden penis to give three cheers to fertility and renewal. The custom is an old one that is connected to bringing about a good harvest and having babies.

After initially laughing at the pictures I decided it reminded me of Ravens "No Sausage" haiku.

Here are my observations:

1) Why is the penis the symbol for fertility? Really all the penis does is deliver the sperm to the proper receptical. They should be carrying giant wooden testicles (hair and all), or a uterus and ovaries.

2) Why is the reporter in one of the pictures holding such a long microphone?

3) Who decided it would be cute to have a penis hanging off their nose?

4) If you look closely at the white 'sperm like' costumes of the people carrying the giant wooden penis down the street I think you'll see D@ve from FT.