An old Japanese belief says that if you want a wish fulfilled, you need to give up to a different wish. At the Yasaka Koshin-do temple in Kyoto, there is a custom to symbolically put the old wish inside an amulet like the ones in today’s photo, called kukurizaru monkeys.

Made of colorful cloth, the amulets are symbolizing monkeys with hands and feet tied to the back, with the meaning of self control. The amulet is displayed at the temple, thus asking for help from the temple’s deity, the Buddhist guardian Koshin.

Yasaka Kōshin-dō, Kyoto

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Yesterday’s Japan Photo: Sumiya red walls