Showing posts with label mamushi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mamushi. Show all posts

Friday, January 18, 2013

Mamushi


The most poisonous snake in Japan is the Mamushi, also the most common. Gloydius Bomhoffii is a pit-viper and is found all over.


About ten people a year die from its bite, though several thousand get bitten. I see them around my house and in the garden all the time, and as anyone who knows me will know I quite like snakes and do not have the irrational fear of them that many seem afflicted with.


My neighbor catches them and puts them in jars of sake to make a drink called Mamushi Zake. Though many will refer to it as a "tonic", the main use of Mamushi zake is as a viagra equivalent.