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VIDEO: Watanagashi-hen | TIP 12: From the Scrapbook V
BGM: Seijaku (Quietness)
I can't find anything that gives a concrete description on what the ritual implements were like.
They were, however, real, and there definitely existed a multitude of different kinds.
One source states that the implements used in the Watanagashi rite alone numbered two hundred.
The rite of Watanagashi was to kidnap people through the 'demoning away,' dissect them, and eat them.
I believe the tools were for dissection and restraining, but two hundred of them is far too many.
Generally, tools evolve in such a way as to reach a solution for a certain problem.
Once you've reached the ultimate goal—that is, attained a certain level of efficiency—the tool's evolution normally stops there.
Regardless, why would they have created so many different kinds?
Tools used for entertainment would evolve over time and branch out.
Unlike normal tools, reaching the ultimate goal would be more of a dead end, and in searching for the next goal, they would split into many different subtypes.
So then, perhaps it's not a stretch to suggest that these two hundred-plus implements had some entertainment value.
This is just a hypothesis, of course, but maybe the human dissection process was viewed as a type of entertainment.
The Three Families of old would develop one new implement (dissection tool) after another, and each was varied, novel, and attracted spectators to keep them from growing bored...
It's not unimaginable.
All of them have to be enshrined within that storehouse.
Though its original intent has been lost, I will reveal the secrets of the traditional ceremonial night within the ritual storehouse.
...I can't restrain my excitement.
Watanagashi cannot come soon enough.