Phallic Hokora

Hokora are small roadside shrines found all over Japan.

Often the doors are closed, but sometimes they are open and one can see the shintai which is usually a stone, sometimes a small statue.

This one I found in a village in southern Okayama is obviously a small fertility shrine.

They were much more common in earlier days, though one can still find them in the countryside.

Each carving would have been made by a local person to ask the kami for a baby.