Photo: Pakutaso
crime

Charges dropped against elderly man for nailing Putin voodoo doll to sacred shrine tree

18 Comments
By Casey Baseel, SoraNews24

There are certain things you expect to see at a Shinto shrine in Japan. A torii gate, a collection box, a bell to ring before you offer a prayer. What you usually don’t expect, though, are wara ningyo, or Japanese voodoo dolls.

But wara ningyo are exactly what kept turning up at Shinto shrines in the town of Matsudo, Chiba Prefecture. The effigies were found nailed to trees with a spike, in accordance with traditional Japanese death curse protocol, and all of them also had pictures of the intended target of the malicious magic, Russian president Vladimir Putin.

Two weeks ago, investigators arrested Mitsunobu Hino, a 72-year-old resident of Matsudo, on charges of property damage after Hino was seen on security camera footage carrying a wara ningyo at a shrine shortly before one of the dolls was found nailed to the ground’s sacred tree. Hino didn’t exactly deny the charges when investigators came to his home to place him under arrest, but it turns out he won’t be facing any legal repercussions, at least for the time being, as the charges against him have been dropped.

Hino was released from police custody shortly after his arrest, and investigators said that prosecution will not be going ahead against Hino. This isn’t because he’s no longer suspected of nailing the doll to the tree, but because the shrine where he was seen on video, Mikazuki Shrine, has decided not to pursue the matter any further. “The victim has withdrawn the complaint,” explained a spokesperson for the Chiba Public Prosecutor’s Office’s Matsudo division.

Online reactions to the development have been a mixture of understanding and admonition, with Twitter comments such as:

“I can understand his sentiment, but he should find a better way to express it.”

“I’m sort of rooting for him, but he shouldn’t nail things into the shrine’s tree.”

“When they said ‘The victim has withdrawn the complaint’ I almost thought they meant Putin.”

“So Putin is cursed.”

“It looks like the wara ningyo aren’t being very effective against Putin. My coworker thinks it’s time to change tactics and throw holy water at him instead.”

Hino is also suspected of close to a dozen other wara ningyo vandalism cases in the city, however, so there remains a chance that one of the other shrines could still file a complaint against him if evidence hat he was involved surfaces.

Sources: NHK News Web via JinFNN Prime OnlineTwitter

Read more stories from SoraNews24.

-- Hatsune Miku becomes classic hina doll to show girls they don’t have to get married to be happy

-- Manga book aims to explain Vladimir Putin

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© SoraNews24

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

18 Comments
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Its sad that such things are only harmful to who does them. I can understand the feelings and its a real surprise but putin is getting what he deserves even without that but the man is kawaiso, cursing someone always comes with consequences. I pray God forgives him for resorting to such means.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

SpitfireToday  01:49 pm JST

I bet if a foreigner had done the exact same thing with a straw doll of Abe or Suga they would have been locked up before you knew it.

Instead of making wild speculations why don't you try it and tell us how it turned out?

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

Politics trumps vandalization...

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

Glad charges were dropped! Someone should nail Putin to that tree instead!

0 ( +6 / -6 )

Good. Those charges were just ridiculous. One of them was trespassing "its a temple, open to public".

1 ( +3 / -2 )

They should have given him a reward, especially if it had WORKED

0 ( +6 / -6 )

I bet if a foreigner had done the exact same thing with a straw doll of Abe or Suga they would have been locked up before you knew it.

-2 ( +7 / -9 )

From the beginning it was quite clear that the accusation was more a way to make the culprit stop than to make him get arrested or anything more serious.

If he continues doing it then it is probably going to escalate, but it is not very likely now that he got caught and "warned".

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Putin got the short straw with the spike in bark about his sappy antics.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

I kind of respect this guy but he probably should not have nailed these things on shine grounds. Why not nail them on any other tree that’s not located on religious property? Anyway Putin will get what’s coming to him one way or another and it won’t be pretty.

-1 ( +5 / -6 )

It is hate crime and he should be imprisoned. But I guess there are blaring ultranationalist speaker trucks insulting Koreans so…

Because the rest of the world support what he did and they waiting that doll magic to be work?

factually, just US, UK, most EU, Australia and Japan. How can this be “most of world” when it is actually about 15%?

1 ( +7 / -6 )

Freedom of Expression can be done in several manners, and this is just one of them. Glad to see him FREE.

1 ( +6 / -5 )

Instead of full bans, why not arrange public places, walls or (fake) pine trees for straw doll-nailing? It's like free speech.

3 ( +6 / -3 )

Putin feel he got his Mojo back in Ukraine

-5 ( +2 / -7 )

Charges dropped against elderly man for nailing Putin voodoo doll to sacred shrine tree

Because the rest of the world support what he did and they waiting that doll magic to be work?

-1 ( +6 / -7 )

Lets not fudge this (as the article is trying to do). The man has committed as small misdemeanour. Yet he has been incarcerated for many days. (21 I believe). What a disgusting, pathetic system. Why was he not helped initially? Japan is not a very impressive country right now!

-7 ( +7 / -14 )

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