Shinto Shrine, Gohei

Besides the torii gates, one of the most recognizable shapes of the Shinto religion is the zigzag shaped paper streamer called shide. Most often, they can be seen tied to a braided rice straw rope (shimenawa) or to a thin piece of wood, a ritual wand. In all the cases, shide is meant to purify and to repel evil spirits.

Speaking of ritual wands, I presented some time ago the Ōnusa wand. Another common type of Shinto wand is Gohei, the wand with two golden shide that can be seen in today’s photo.

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Onusa, Jishu Shrine, Kyoto

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Yesterday’s Japan Photo: Hundreds of Kamon stamps