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koinobori [wikipedia] are carp shaped flags which are hung up to celebrate Childrens Day (which is today - although my Nanna would have told you that it’s Childrens Day every damn day....).

They do have a different function as well however - which you may not have heard about before. Many, many years ago they were hung to protect children from dangerous snakes. Japan has one type of venomous snake - the マムシ (mamushi).

A news program investigated the idea behind this - with a rather surprising conclusion. First they filled a room with about 50 mamushi in a big pile near a pole. The room was shut off and a camera filmed the snake movement, which was very little. They weren’t even interested in untangling themselves from each other.

Next they had koinobori blowing slightly from the pole. Again they sealed up the room and filmed. Almost all the snakes slithered to the far corners of the room away from the pole.

There are two reasons for this it seems. First the action of the koinobori waving cooled the air underneath them - and snakes don’t like cold. Also the action of the waving made the pole - and consequently the ground nearby - vibrate, and they don’t like that much either. So it seems to be true that the koinobori were originally more to protect the kids from the snakes than just for decoration.

I’m not sure if this would work on other snakes of course - so try it out at your own risk (~_^).....