The Conch Shell will blow commencing the festival of fertility and a prosperous harvest during winter February 2020. It has been celebrated for hundreds of years in the snow and ice; for the time spanning 2019-2020, the weather has been mild this with little to no snow on the Honshu, Japan’s main Island, and there were many fears there would be no snow or ice for the fertility festival this year!  But now it looks like it will go on off without a hitch since there has been a cold snap with snow and ice about to blanket the mountainsides of Niigata, Japan.  At this fertility ceremony, both the husbands and wives of the newlywed couple participate in the festivities; the women are dressed beautifully in Japanese ceremonial kimonos. The husbands are not so blessed with wear as beautiful and elegant as a kimono, the men are basically wearing underpants and are doused with buckets of icy, freezing cold water by Shinto Priests on a ceremonial sacrificial stage made of ice and snow.  It's an ancient ceremony in Japan celebrated mainly for good fortune in the birth embodied in healthy and plentiful numbers of children.  Is this storied and ancient ceremony having a positive effect?  Yes, this area has one of the highest birthrates in Japan! 

And if you look closely in one of the photos, that is a "ceremonial phallus" on the right side of the ceremonial stage!  This ancient ritual of fertility takes place far off the beaten path in Niigata, Japan. 

For this year’s winter wonderland in Japan, I am fully booked with Hokkaido, Japan photo tour workshops taking participants and me on the adventure of a lifetime, as we visit pilgrims spots along the way. This winter, participants on my Hokkaido Photo Workshops and private tours will visit Niigata, Snow Monkeys, Mt. Fuji, Kyushu, Okinawa, Tokyo, and other several other prefectures across Japan. But if you would like to photograph this festival with a press box seat and much more in 2021, contact JDS. I may have spaces available, but be warned they sell out fast, and first come first serve!