Try your luck! Omikuji (おみくじ)
Asakusa is a very famous sight-seeing place in Tokyo, a traditional downtown.
There is a big temple named “Senso-ji”. Going through the gate, “Kaminari-mon”,
there are a lot of souvenir shops selling goods and sweets.
After praying at Senso-ji, how about drawing “Omikuji”, personal fortunes?
Omikuji is a Japanese paper fortune which can be obtained by drawing lots in most shrines and temples.
It gives a range of fortunes from “excellent” to “unlucky.” Although the range of fortunes depends on each temple/shrine, the range basically is the following.
- Great blessing (dai-kichi, 大吉)
- Middle blessing (chū-kichi, 中吉)
- Small blessing (shō-kichi, 小吉)
- Blessing (kichi, 吉)
- Near-blessing (sue-kichi, 末吉)
- Near-small-blessing (sue-shō-kichi, 末小吉)
- Curse (kyō, 凶)
- Great curse (dai-kyō, 大凶)
How to draw a “Omikuji” is that
Put 100 yen to a coin box, give the box (silver one) a shake, and get one stick from the top of the box.
Check a number written on the stick. Numbers are written in Japanese, “Kanji”. If you need help, talk to Japanese. And get one paper in the box of your number!
At Senso-ji, the fortune paper is written in English, as well.
It is said that when we got draw a bad fortune, it should be tied to the branch of a tree or strings in order to return it to temples. And when we got a good fortune, we should take it home.
Try your luck at Senso-ji!