In modern times, however, the true Watanagashi became viewed as too violent and cruel to be practiced. The corpse and its severed intestines would then be thrown into the river and wash away, symbolizing the "drifting away" of the people's sins with the victim's innards. Tortured using the tools in the Furude Shrine in a very specific process (which notably involved putting nails through every joint in every finger of the victim) before finally being killed by the priest or miko, who gouges out the victim's stomach and intestines with a large, hoe-like dissection tool following an intricate dance. It was a time to cast off sins of the villagers by sacrificing them with the blood of a living human. The festival began centuries previously as the Watanagashi (腸流し), or Intestines-Drifting Festival.
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