Konsei-shin (金精神)
Konsei-shin, who is also called as Konsei-daimyojin or Konsei-sama, is the god representing a goshintai (object of worship housed in a Shinto shrine and believed to contain the spirit of a god) made of stone, wood or metal which is shaped like a phallus. For the name 'Konsei' (金精), various phonetic-equivalent kanji characters such as 金勢, 金清, 金生, 魂生, 根性 and 根精 are used other than 金精.
There are shrines enshrining Konsei-shin in many parts of Japan, and in particular, many can be found in the Tohoku and Kanto region located in the eastern part of Japan.
The goshintai of Konsei-shin has a form of an erect penis, and the first character "金" for "kon" of its name means glorious like gold and the second character "精" for "sei" means vigor to imply vigorous sexual drive.
The worship of Konsei-shin is said to have started from genital worship which was related to fertility and productiveness. The god is believed to give efficacy to those praying for pregnancy, smooth delivery or marriage and those suffering from genital diseases or sexually transmitted diseases, and in relation to fertility and productiveness, the god is also believed to answer prayers for prosperous trade.
People who offer prayers to Konsei-shin dedicate the same objects (phallus) of the same shape and material of stone, wood, or metal as the goshintai enshrined in each shrine,
Although the original shrine for Konsei-shin worship is said to be Makibori-jinja Shrine enshrining a metallic goshintai in Makibori, Morioka City, Iwate Prefecture, it has not been confirmed whether or not it is true. Among other shrines enshrining Konsei-shin is famous Konse-jinja Shrine located in Konsei-toge Mountain Path on the border between Nikko City, Tochigi Prefecture and Katashina-mura, Tone-gun, Gunma Prefecture.
Since hot springs have been symbols of female genitals since ancient times, Konsei-shin symbolizing the penis is enshrined at many hot springs in hope that the hot springs will never be dried up and will continue to well up. As hot spring areas enshrining Konsei-shin, Osawa-onsen Hot Spring in Hananomaki City, Iwate Prefecture and Fukenoyu-onsen Hot Spring in Kazuno City, Akita Prefecture are known.