If you find yourself at a Japanese temple or shrine make sure to have your fortune told! Called Omikuji are essentially a sacred lot, where you randomly draw a stick that will tell you your fortune. But beware, these fortunes can foretell a bad fate!
After you have paid, you will shake, spin, or rotate a container full of numbered sticks. It is important to make sure you wish for a good fortune at this point! Once you pull the stick out, find the corresponding fortune in the numbered drawers. Then return your stick.
Now it is time to read your fortune, however most have no English translation. They usually will indicate if it is a fortune (吉) or curse (凶) and the intensity of the fortune. The fortune will also break down what lies in your future for love, marriage, health, business, studies, travel, desires, and much more. It may also give you advice on how to change your fate, or to make sure not to let your good fortune go to your head. Sometimes its even written in the form of a poem!
The Thunder Gate in front of Sensō-ji aka Asakusa Kannon Temple
When I was at Sensō-ji, a Buddhist temple in the Asakusa district of Tokyo, I was lucky enough to have a translator. Unfortunately, my fortune was very bad (to the point he wouldn’t translate what it said!)
If you get a bad fortune DO NOT TAKE IT HOME! Instead look for where other bad fortunes have been tied. This may be a specified area within the temple/shrine or you may see people have tied bad fortunes to sacred tree. So my guide made me tie up my bad fortune and leave it at the temple to avoid it.
Me at Suwa Taisha cleansing myself by washing my hands. Just beyond me to the left is where people have left their bad fortunes.
Read more about Japanese Fortune Telling:
Every other week Travel Thursday brings you travel tips and information on the amazing sights and activities the world has to offer.
Leave a Reply