Although the modern Kanamara Penis Festival only started in 1977 if celebrates a much older legend about a penis eating demon that hid inside a young woman's vagina. The woman had a steel phallus made atKana yama Shrine in Kawasaki Daishi and tricked the demon into biting down on it, breaking all its teeth and freeing her of it. Kanayama Shrine was a well known shrine for sword making and metal work and a foundry still exists there which is lit with sacred fire on the day of the festival. It was also famous a place where the local prostitutes used to come to prey for good business and protection from disease. Today the festival of the steel phallus is a major draw for tourists from all over Japan and is many foreigners who come to enjoy the site of large phallus-topped mikoshi or portable shrines being carried around the street.