Japan History and Culture

Sacred Shinto rope or Shimenawa (注連縄, しめかざり)

Shimenawa are sacred rope with strips of white   paper (gohei). These ropes made from  rice straw or hemp which is braided before being bound with string. A wood or wire insert is often used to cause the shimenawa to preserve its shape.

The Shimenawa for decorations Japanese New Year (OShogatsu or shogatsu), used for ritual purification in the Shinto Religion. These are usually hung from the shrine gate (torii) and before above entrance of houses or a shrine precinct, the inner sanctuary of a shrines or a ritual site, to ward off evil spirits. Japanese people used to mark trees that are believed to be inhabited by spirits called Kodama. Cutting down these trees is thought to bring misfortune.

Izumo Taisha Shrine, also called as Izumo Ōyashiro (出雲大社) has the giant a sacred rope (shimenawa), lengths and weights of 13 meters, 5 tons, and 8 meters, 1.5 tons respectively. They change it every three years.

Sacred straw festoon (Shimekazari, 玉飾り)

Shimekazari(標飾り)is one of New Year’s decorations, many house and companies   hang on the top of the house entrance or in the kitchen above the stove for block the invasion of bad luck or wards off evil spirits and welcome the gods (Shintoism God). Some even decorate the front of their cars with shimekazari after a car wash. These are made from sacred twisted straw rope hung with strips of white paper and pieces of straw ,shaped into one or more rings.

These consist of propitious decorations, most commonly an orange because orange (daidai is a small citrus)) sounds like “many generations”. It is a wish for fertility and lots of descendants, kelp (Konbu) sounds similar to the word, yorokobu (to be happy), a lobster, ferns with white-backed leaves, folding fan and attached to them. It has a modest and simple one. The lettering says daikichi, which means best luck, and that little cat is a manekineko. It is holding a golden coin in one paw and beckoning with the other. It is beckoning for more coins. each one of those decorations is significant, symbol of a prayer for longevity, academic success, prosperity and so on.