Snake Beheaded by Shinto Circus

Now, here's a head scratcher. I went to a Shinto Shrine in Shinjuku the other day with my girlfriend. It was a very big festival, where people would buy large ornamentations to bring home for good luck. The temple grounds were filled with hundreds, thousands of people, small food stands, ornament shops, and ... a "freak magic circus" show... But this one was a special 'snake' show... the only one of its kind in Japan. ( I guess video game culture is killing off this tradition).

So, we went in to check it out, and almost immediately, they had this older woman with incredibly horrid makeup,... handling a live snake (like a garter snake or something). Wondering what she was going to do with it, she immediately took the snake by the neck, stuck the neck in between her teeth, and PULLED really hard! Like elastic snapping, the head came off the snake - the entire audience started freaking out... and she lay the head on the table, and held up the rest of the body. (see photo - sorry its blurry, it was shot with my mobile phone camera)

She then stuck the top of the headless body into her mouth, and started drinking (sucking) the blood out of the snake. I think the worst part, was I looked down on the table, and saw the head of the snake, still moving, trying to move, but not quite realizing it didn't have a body. Its tongue slurping in and out, confused.

But, I don't think anyone was expecting such a shocking thing... certainly I wasn't, at a Shinto Shrine! OK, so I know Snakes are close to dragons, which are powerful symbols in Japanese Shinto spirituality,... and supposedly drinking the blood of snakes (dragons) is incredibly good for your body (Mojo charge). But, to do such a sacrifice for entertainment in a sacred space was a bit of a shock. I was scratching my head, trying to get my head around it (no pun intended). Animal gods playing around? Yin Yang entertainment...? hmmm... You won't see this in "Lost in Translation' ! (crap film)

This was Nov2nd (in Japan), November 1st in the USA. Alas, it was an ominous metaphor for what was about to happen to democracy the very next day, Election day.

Shocked by the circus.