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Snake/Serpent
On the Serpent Girl of Ep. 40 of BSSM. This is an excerpt from The Norton Anthology of World Masterpieces,
Vol. 2, under the notes from a short story called Bewitched by Ueda Akinari: "He incorporates
specific my making elements from the no play Dojoji. In the play, itself derived from folklore
and eleventh-century miracle stories, rejection (or, in the Buddhist scheme of things, passion)
transforms a lovesick girl into a serpent. Sexual heat takes a new and deadly form when the
venomous snake destroys the man who jilted her... The original title, A Serpent's Lust, would
have suggested to eighteenth-century readers, if only subliminally, the danger of dragon ladies, a
threat already embedded in Japanese literature. But Akinari reverses the usual narrative. If
jealousy can transform a woman into a serpent, he says, then love can turn a serpent into a
woman" (p. 635). Since the themes are similar, I thought I'd include this excerpt.
Sailor Mars has a manga only attack called Snake Fire. There are old stories in Japan of a snake or serpent associated with a
miko. There are stories of the snake bridegroom, where the girl marries or is visited by a deity who has taken the form of a snake.
In some tales, it is the woman who takes the form of a snake. Another tale associated with the miko involved cases where a woman
was buried alive to act as a sacrifice to a serpent presiding over a river or lake. There is also a belief that sometimes deities will appear
to an ascetic in a dream as a snake, or a snake will be the guardian's form over the ascetic.
In the Ninja Scroll movie one of the demons is a woman who can control snakes. In Japan, snakes are regarded as an animal of witchcraft
and sorcery. They are lodged and fed by their owners and in return obey their commands, possessing a victim they can cause
madness and pain, and also are able to transfer the victim's possessions to the owner.
Snake Women
One of the most well-known snake women is Medusa from classical myth. In one version she was a young girl who angered Athena for sleeping with Poseidon in her temple, as punishment
she was turned into a Gorgon and given snakes for hair and with her gaze turn anyone to stone. Not only has the snake long been regarded for its poisonous quality and poisonous tongue (such as the
temptation of Eve), but is an animal with a history connected to seduction and passion. With a tragic romance with Rome's Antony, Cleopatra took her life by clasping snake's to her breasts, as the legend goes.
This view of the snake and connection to seduction continues frequently in anime storytelling. In VHD the snake women coil and grow drunk on D's essence, they feed on it. As they do so they grow more snake-like and more in
appearance of women nearing sexual climax. As mentioned above, the snake woman in Ninja Scroll has tattoos that come alive. She is both carnal and dangerous in the intimacy of flesh
she uses to lure men, but figuratively she (woman) is deadly as shown by the snakes she commands from her body itself. Women and snakes are not always seductresses, but often times
still deadly and not to be trusted. The shinma of the swamp in the Miyu TV series is one such serpent-lady.
These are the dark feminine, the underlying sense of mystery, power, and darkness in woman. Against the light and nurturing aspect of the feminine, the snake woman often represents
the unknown, the ancient, or alluring deception of feminine beauty.
In Hindu belief the nagas are the divine serpent race, sometimes half human and serpent or sometimes taking the form of an ordinary snake. They might be associated with water (such as
the control of rain) or with fertility.The females in human form might be quite attractive. They were also known to have a precious jewel upon their head or forehead. In the second OVA made of 3X3 Eyes, it is learned that the Pai Yakumo has come to befriend anew is
really a lower snake demon who was put into Pai's mind. Benares summoned the snake and on accepting her task was transformed into a tiny diamond shaped jewel which he placed on the forehead of
Pai. With this and two crystals attached, her third eye was sealed and both Pai and the Sanjiyan's minds were sealed with it. In the process, the snake too lost her memory and wandered in the body of Pai
with amnesia until she was found by a kind couple and given a new life. By the OVA's end, the snake realizing the truth of her past chooses her love of Yakumo and recites the spell to release the Sanjiyan and let
her form be reverted by to a snake. But Pai, the Sanjiyan, gives the snake a new human form and places her without memory of these events into the life she was happy in, with grandparents, school, and friends. Many elements of this
snake demon hearken back somewhat to the above, and others touch on the role of the snake and feminine in other tales.
In another artistic approach, Junko Mizuno may use snakes in her manga artwork. A quote from newtimesla.com had this to say: "Mizuno's highly sexualized girl characters, who often
have snakes or vermin in their hair and/or genitals. But the artist...sees them not as waifs but as 'the strong and sexy female image I want to be like.'"*
Originally published in New Times L.A. July 25, 2002