White snakes of Iwakuni

Photographer: Lisa Van Muyen
From: Iwakuni City, Yamaguchi Prefecture

White snakes of Iwakuni

These snakes have scarlet colored eyes and ivory white bodies. They have never been known to hurt human beings.... in fact, it is said that if a white snake settles in a private home, the family of the house welcomes it as a good omen, and does not remove the snake. "It is said that the farmed white snakes of Iwakuni are messengers of Bensaiten (the goddess of good fortune), and that they bring riches and good luck. White snakes flourish in Iwakuni as almost nowhere in the world. A continuous stream of visitors come to Iwakuni to pray to the snakes for success in business." "The snakes maintain an inherited character which the mutation of the color to white is stabilized. Opinions of some experts is that the white snake is albinism resulting from a pigment insufficiency of the blue green snake going into recessive stage (inferior heredity)."