There was expressions likening a sexual activity between a man and woman to 'matsuri' in a phrase of Joruri (dramatic narrative chanted to a shamisen accompaniment) and in a book of zappai (playful literature originating from haiku [a Japanese poem in seventeen syllables having a 5-7-5 syllabic form and traditionally containing a reference to the seasons]) (haiku collected in the streets) called yanagidaru (box-shaped, lacquered liquor cask) (written as 柳樽 and also as 柳多留 in Chinese characters) in the Edo period.
江戸時代の浄瑠璃の一節や柳樽（やなぎだると読み、柳多留とも表記する）という雑俳（巷から集めた俳句）の書籍のなかに「祭り」を男女の性行為の例えとして用いている表現がある。