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omikuji

How To Read Your Omikuji and Prevent Bad Luck

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omikuji

Praying at a shrine or a temple is all well and good, but how can you tell what’s ahead? Omikuji, that’s how. These fortunes have been a staple of temple and shrine visiting for centuries, and are still much-loved today.

Visit just about any temple or shrine, and you’re likely to see hundreds of strips of paper folded up and tied to trees and fences — these are omikuji drawn by other visitors and left behind for luck.

Unless you’re at one of the biggest or most popular shrines and temples in a major city, though, you’re unlikely to get any information in English. Even if you’ve got a decent grasp of Japanese, they can be a bit tough to understand. We do have a little trick that’ll let anyone read the details with reasonable accuracy, though.

We can’t tell you exactly what all omikuji mean, but we can give you the basics. With this knowledge, you’ll know roughly what kind of fortune lies ahead and how to properly deal with it.

When it comes to temples and shrines, Kyoto is the undisputed champion. Book your tickets with the buttons below for super-easy transport from Tokyo, or get a JR Pass for total travel flexibility.

 

What are omikuji?

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omikuji

Omikuji (おみくじ or 御神籤) are fortunes, generally bought from temples and shrines in Japan. “Omikuji” is often translated as “sacred lot.” The word kuji means lottery, and getting your omikuji always comes with an element of randomness. What’s the point of a fortune if you get to choose it, anyway?

They’ve been around since the Muromachi Period (1336–1573) and were originally based on collections of Chinese poems. Even today, many will feature a poem that relates to the meaning somehow.

Getting an omikuji is a common part of visiting a shrine or temple, but New Year is the time when they’re most in demand. If you do decide to visit a shrine or temple over New Year in Japan, you’ll probably find yourself swept by the crowd towards the omikuji as everyone looks ahead to the next year.

Although omikuji used to be made on-site, now only a few companies make them. The largest is actually a women’s rights group founded in the Meiji Era over a century ago, who started making fortunes to raise money. Nowadays, the Joshidosha (Women’s Road Company) operating out of Nissho Yamada Shrine in Yamaguchi Prefecture manufactures 70% of all omikuji in Japan.

 

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We can’t give you a full interpretation of your specific omikuji, but the most important part is pretty easy to translate.

Omikuji exist on a scale from good to bad, represented by a few kanji characters. Sometimes they’re read from right to left, so watch out. The exact number varies from place to place, but the most common omikuji outcomes are as follows:

Kanji Reading Meaning
大吉 Dai-kichi Great (big) blessing
中吉 Chu-kichi Middle blessing
小吉 Sho-kichi Small blessing
半吉 Han-kichi Half blessing
末吉 Sue-kichi Blessing to come*
末小吉 Sue-sho-kichi Small blessing to come
Kichi Blessing
Kyo Curse**
末凶 Sue-kyo Curse to come
半凶 Han-kyo Half curse
小凶 Sho-kyo Small curse
大凶 Dai-kyo Big curse

* 末 (sue) can also be translated as “ending” or “borderline” when it comes to omikuji

** Don’t worry, you aren’t actually cursed! But “blessing” and “curse” are a lot easier to write with all the variations, so it’s a common translation for good luck/bad luck in this case

These ones are the basics, but some places go further, especially in the “blessing” direction. This can be by adding more 大’s, a 特 (toku, “special”) or 超 (cho, “extremely”) in front. So when you get a 大大吉 (big big blessing), you know you really are #blessed.

Be warned that some places might do this for the curses too. Be sure you’re ready to run the risk! In general, though, there are more blessing omikuji than curse ones, at a ratio of about 70/30. You’re more likely to get a good luck omikuji.

Some temples and shrines offer other remixes and additions to the standard outcomes, too. Shimogamo Jinja Shrine in Kyoto, for example, offers 平 (hei, “flat” or “level”) right in the middle between blessing and curse. This might seem neutral, but it’s actually reminding you of the ideal Zen state of mind: not too far in either direction.

Shimogamo Jinja Shrine also happens to be right next to the Michelin 3-Star restaurant, Kichisen. The first character of the restaurant’s name is even the same kichi (吉) as omikuji use! Why not celebrate a good fortune or get started reversing your bad one with world-class traditional cuisine?

 

 

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omikuji

Ready to find out your future? Well, first you’ll need to go to a temple or shrine. Practically every one in Japan will offer omikuji, though the method (and price!) will vary slightly.

First things first, you should purify yourself at the spring by the entrance and pray — don’t just run straight for the merch stand! All good? Good.

Traditionally, you’ll get your omikuji from a cylindrical container filled with numbered sticks. After paying some money to the shrine staff or putting it in the box, shake the container and slide one of the sticks out of the small hole in one end. This will have a number written on it, usually in kanji characters.

Japanese numbers aren’t too difficult to work out once you know the characters:

Arabic Japanese
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

Then remember that the “tens” are also written out. So 42 is 四十二, four-ten-two.

Once you’ve got your number, go to the matching drawer or slot in the nearby cabinet and get your omikuji out!

Other styles also exist. In especially busy shrines, you’ll put a donation in a slot and take one folded omikuji at random out of a bucket full of them. Some shrines have vending machine or gachapon-style machines — these will often have an extra charm in them for added value.

Our favorites are the omikuji that come with objects. Many shrines and temples are associated with a particular animal, so you’ll find rows and rows of little statues (called okimono) of them holding a rolled-up omikuji. You also get to keep the statue as a souvenir afterward!

Traditionally, people would donate five yen because the Japanese for “five yen” (go en) sounds the same as the word for “connection” or “relationship” (en) with an honorific prefix attached (go-en). Five yen coins are commonly used in charms and when praying at shrines and temples in order to build a relationship with the spirit.

10 yen coins are also used, because a Japanese word for ten (to) sounds like the word for “far” (toi), so your luck will go far into the future. Japanese people quite like puns.

Omikuji nowadays tend to cost a bit more. 100 yen is the usual minimum, so if there’s no price then you can’t go wrong with this.

 

 

 

You have a choice. Most people keep them for a while. One of our team still has his first-ever omikuji: a middle-blessing one from Nikko Toshogu that’s over five years old.

If you like, you can also tie it up and leave it at the shrine. This is far less common, but ostensibly the “waiting” pun still holds. This time it’ll mean your good fortune waits around you for a long time.

Whatever you got, don’t let it stress or relax you too much. Bad fortunes can be worked into good ones, and failing to take advantage of a good fortune can still put you in a bad situation. Take care!

 

 


Ready to find your destiny? And understand it? Omikuji are a great way to participate in an ongoing Japanese tradition, and hopefully get a bit of direction in your life.

If you’re hoping for a bit of direction in Tokyo as well as your life, tour the city's temples and shrines, and perhaps you’ll learn what lies ahead in your future.