In East Asia there is a type of black magic conducted by women that is known in Japan as 'kodoku' and in China as 'gu.' It involves sealing several venomous insects, for example scorpions or centipedes, in a jar and allowing them to kill each other until only one survives.
The fluids of the surviving insect are then used to
poison a victim and cause either serious illness, death, or curse them
so that they can be controlled for the purposes of evil.
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Ukiyo-e print, artist unknown, 1800s |
The remaining
insect could also become a good luck charm for the person conducting the
magic. In some accounts of the practice, toads and snakes were also used to
create the poison, and in these cases the motivation was usually
seduction or sexual indulgence.
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'Group of Insects' - Watanabe Shotei, 1910 |
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Kitagawa Utamaro, 1788 |
I will try it
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