Trusting your Fortune to a Piece of Paper
Omikuji (御御籤, 御神籤, or おみくじ) are random fortunes written on strips of paper at Shinto shrines in Japan.
The omikuji predicts the person’s chances of his or her hopes coming true, of finding a good match, or generally matters of health, fortune, life, etc. When the prediction is bad, it is a custom to fold up the strip of paper and attach it to a pine tree in the temple grounds. A purported reason for this custom is a pun on the word for pine tree (松 matsu) and the verb ‘to wait’ (待つ matsu), the idea being that the bad luck will wait by the tree rather than attach itself to the bearer. In the event of the fortune being good, the bearer should keep it. Though nowadays this custom seems more of a children’s amusement, omikuji are available at most shrines, and remain one of the traditional activities related to shrine-going, if lesser.
This photo was taken at the shrine in Sapporo this past Spring. The fortune I got said “That you had as much patience as a mossy rock which had never moved an inch for a thousands years!” and that it was a “fairly good luck” fortune. So because it was a good fortune I could keep it 
Ahsen
wrote:
I completely agree
Posted on 15-Nov-08 at 11:45 pm | Permalink
hypnosis guy
wrote:
always good to read interesting points of view
Posted on 25-Nov-08 at 10:02 pm | Permalink
gad
wrote:
Thank you for such a facilitatory and clarifying post, it is appreciated!
Posted on 07-Dec-08 at 1:09 pm | Permalink
ayman rock
wrote:
Thanks a lot for this post
Posted on 11-Dec-08 at 3:43 am | Permalink