Also called mamori, Japanese amulet, Japanese good luck charm
Small brocade pouches sold at Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples in Japan, each holding a blessed paper or wood slip for a specific kind of protection or luck. You carry one unopened for about a year, then return it to be burned with thanks.
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Take care: This is a living religious practice. Receive omamori from a real shrine or temple, keep them closed, and return them for burning rather than throwing them away. A homemade pouch can be a lovely keepsake, but do not call it an omamori or imitate shrine blessings.
One of the most common modern types, made for drivers and travelers. It is often received together with a car blessing and hung from the mirror or kept in the glove box. Bumper decals and card-shaped versions are newer forms of the same idea.
Old amulets and ofuda are returned, usually around New Year, and the priest thanks the kami before burning them in a sacred bonfire. Some shrines outside Japan accept returns by mail if each item is carefully wrapped, and will take items from other shrines when the original cannot be reached.
Temples issue amulets too, dedicated to a Buddha or bodhisattva rather than a kami. Visitors of any religion receive both kinds, and scholars Ian Reader and George Tanabe treat this buying of practical benefits as central to everyday Japanese religion.
Mamori means protection, and omamori is its polite form. Folklorist Yanagita Kunio thought Japanese people had probably always carried protective objects, but printed charms issued by shrines and temples became widely popular only from the Tokugawa (Edo) period, when pilgrimage and printing spread them across the country. Early versions were paper or wood. The familiar brocade pouch with a tied cord, carried every day, is a more recent and largely urban habit.
Today every major shrine and temple offers a range of amulets, each for a specific benefit: safe driving, passing exams, finding love, safe childbirth, business success or simple good fortune. Scholars Ian Reader and George Tanabe described this as the religion of practical benefits. The yearly cycle matters as much as the object. Amulets are customarily replaced around New Year, and the old ones go back to be burned so the spirit within can return home.
Written charms on red or yellow paper, or on peach wood, pasted at the door or carried, to keep harmful spirits out of a home in Chinese tradition.
East Asian belief that destined partners are tied by an invisible red thread, honored in Japan by en-musubi prayers for good bonds at Izumo Taisha and in Chinese communities through the matchmaker god Yue Lao. This entry gives an open home practice inspired by both.
A round, weighted papier-mâché doll of the Zen founder Bodhidharma, sold with blank eyes. You paint in one eye when you set a goal and the second when you reach it, then return the doll to a temple to be burned.
Tell us what you need and we will craft a custom spell, charm or reading for it. Or call to book a reading or a road blessing in person.
