[kj1980]

<The Motive of Watanagashi>

Watanagashi. To kidnap the victim and feast upon it. It was thought that this absurdity was in fact, a part of entertainment. (It was believed that they were higher beings than normal humans by enjoying such an abnormal act).

However, I have came across a historical document that might cast a stone into that theory. As this is a secondary source based on oral history, it cannot be put into actual historical context. However, its contents are of some interest.

According to that document, the villagers of Onigafuchi were doing this ritual to instigate fear into them. Girls and children turned pale along with trepidation while hemophobics vomited at the sight and the stench of blood. Yet, they were all forced to watch the feast (mutilation process).

This puts a whole new perspective into the light. Before reading this hypothesis, I had the impression that the villagers of Onigafuchi were "high" as they did their acts. Before this, I believed that the villagers dissected the victims like fish to reinforce their belief that they were superior to "low-life humans." However, if the villagers did not attain some sort of "high" but acquired "fear" instead, then meaning of this ritual changes dramatically.

If so, then the possibility of the people in power using this as a propaganda tool to keep people under their control comes into play.

The most powerful people who controlled Onigafuchi were The Big Three Households known as the gosanke. Further research on the gosanke will be necessary to get down to the truth of the Onigafuchi village.