Japanese at a Shrine for Omikuji and Omamori: Charms, Fortunes and Goshuin

Finding the shrine office and starting the conversation

After you pass through the torii, rinse your hands at the water basin and pray at the main hall, the last stop is the juyosho or shamusho, the shrine office. It is usually a wooden window beside the main hall, with charms displayed on a board and prices written on small cards. Bowing and purification are covered in our temple and shrine etiquette guide, so here we start at the window.

Charms are not bought but received, ukeru, and the price is called hatsuho-ryō, an offering. In practice, o kudasai and onegai shimasu work perfectly well and nobody will correct a visitor. If you are asked ikutsu desu ka, how many, answer with hitotsu, futatsu, mittsu.

Omamori: the types and what each is for

Omamori are small brocade pouches with a blessing inside, and each one has a purpose printed on it. The board at the window is organised by purpose, so the fastest way to buy is to know the purpose word and put it in front of no omamori. Kōtsū anzen is traffic safety, the classic charm for a car or a bicycle. Gōkaku kigan is for passing an exam. En-musubi is for relationships and a good match. Anzan is for a safe birth. Kenkō or byōki heiyu is for health and recovery. Shōbai hanjō is for a thriving business, and gakugyō jōju is for success in studies.

There are also general charms: kaiun, better luck, and yaku-yoke, protection from misfortune. Pick by purpose first and design second; the miko can help if you describe who it is for. Charms are traditionally returned to a shrine after a year, so ask about the return box, the kosatsu-nōsho, if you live in Japan.

Drawing an omikuji

Omikuji are paper fortunes. At most shrines you pay a small offering into a box, then either shake a hexagonal tin, the mikuji-tō, until a numbered stick falls out and hand the number to the miko, or pull a folded paper straight from a drawer or a box yourself. A few shrines have English versions, so it is worth asking.

With the shaking style, read the number on the stick and say it to the miko with ban: jūhachi-ban, number eighteen. If you draw the paper yourself, take one only; taking a second because you dislike the first is considered bad form.

Reading the result levels

The result is printed large at the top and it is the part everyone reads first. The scale runs from daikichi, great blessing, down to daikyō, great misfortune, but the middle levels are not intuitive from the kanji alone. Suekichi, for example, is a mild future blessing, lower than shōkichi, small blessing, even though sue looks like an end. The exact number of levels and their order vary from shrine to shrine, so a chart on the wall or a question at the window settles it.

Below the headline come short lines on wishes, health, love, work, travel and studies, often with a classical poem above. Phrases such as kanau, will be granted, and ososhi, will be slow, are the ones to look for. The lines are meant as advice for the coming period, which is why many people keep even a middling result to reread.

Tying the fortune or keeping it

Next to the omikuji stand there is usually a rack of wires or ropes crowded with folded white papers. This is the musubidokoro, the place to tie. The common custom is to tie a bad result there so the misfortune stays at the shrine, and to keep a good one in your wallet. Plenty of people tie good ones too, as a bond with the kami.

Fold the paper into a thin strip and tie it in a simple single knot. Do not tie it onto a tree; most shrines now ask visitors to use the rack to protect the branches. If the rack is full, ask where else you can tie it.

Ema plaques and how to write a wish

Ema are small wooden plaques with a picture on the front and a blank back for your wish. You buy them at the same window, write with the pen tied to the stand, and hang the plaque on the ema-kake, the rack near the hall. Wishes in any language are fine. Names and dates are optional, and many people write only a first name, since the plaques hang in public.

The traditional grammar for a wish is the verb plus masu yō ni: gōkaku dekimasu yō ni, may I pass; kazoku ga kenkō de imasu yō ni, may my family stay healthy; ii shigoto ga mitsukarimasu yō ni, may I find a good job. Once hung, the ema stays at the shrine until the priests burn it in a ritual, which is how the wish is delivered.

Goshuin stamps and the stamp book

A goshuin is a red seal stamped into a special accordion book, the goshuin-chō, with the shrine's name and the date brushed in ink around it. The book is sold at the same window or at stationery shops, and each shrine adds its own page for a fee that varies by shrine. Some shrines have a separate goshuin window with a queue or a numbered ticket, and some offer only a kakioki, a pre-written sheet to paste in yourself.

The etiquette is simple: pray first, then ask for the stamp; hand over the book open at the next blank page; do not ask for a stamp in a notebook that is not a goshuin-chō; and wait quietly while the priest writes. During busy periods and on some festival days the window may close early or only offer the paper version, so ask rather than assume.

• Goshuin-chō: the accordion stamp book, bought at the shrine or a stationery shop
• Kakioki: a pre-written stamp on loose paper, pasted into the book later
• Hatsuho-ryō: the offering for the stamp, shown on the sign and different at each shrine
• Gentei goshuin: a limited seasonal design, often with a queue
• Uketsuke jikan: the hours the window is open, usually shorter than the shrine grounds

Useful sentences: goshuin o onegai shimasu, a stamp please; goshuin-chō wa arimasu ka, do you sell stamp books; kakioki wa arimasu ka, do you have the paper version; dono kurai kakarimasu ka, how long will it take. If you are handed a number, say arigatō gozaimasu and wait until it is called.

Etiquette at the window and when something goes wrong

The window is a place of quiet transactions. Speak at a normal volume, keep the queue moving, and thank the miko with arigatō gozaimasu when you leave. Ask before photographing the staff. If you buy charms as gifts, say so; some shrines give a small paper bag for each.

Small things go wrong: a fortune you cannot read, a stick dropped before you saw the number, a goshuin window that has closed. All are fixed with a polite question. If you tied your fortune and then want it back, let it be; that is the point of tying it.