Ema and omikuji are two of the most interactive shrine traditions in Japan — and among the most memorable. Drawing your fortune, tying your bad luck to a pine tree, or hanging a wooden wish plaque on the rack with thousands of others: these are simple rituals that give visitors a genuine point of connection with Japanese spiritual culture.
Omikuji: Drawing Your Fortune
Omikuji (おみくじ) are paper fortune slips drawn at shrines and Buddhist temples. The process: you shake a metal cylinder of numbered sticks (or use a coin-operated dispenser at modern shrines) until one stick falls out. The number on the stick corresponds to a drawer containing your fortune slip.
Fortunes are ranked on a scale from most to least auspicious. The typical ranking from best to worst is:
Dai-kichi (大吉) — Great blessing. The best possible fortune. Kichi (吉) — Blessing. Good fortune in general. Chuu-kichi (中吉) — Middle blessing. Moderate good fortune. Shou-kichi (小吉) — Small blessing. Minor good fortune. Sue-kichi (末吉) — Future blessing — not good now, but improving. Kyo (凶) — Misfortune. Dai-kyo (大凶) — Great misfortune. The worst fortune, and rarer than it might seem.
Beyond the overall rating, each omikuji contains detailed predictions about specific areas of life: health, travel, romance, studies, business, wishes in general, and things that will be lost and found. The predictions are written in classical Japanese poetry style and can be quite poetic — “your wish will be granted but only after great patience” or “like a ship sailing into harbor after a storm, fortune returns.” Some shrines produce omikuji in English, particularly major tourist destinations like Asakusa Sensoji.
What to Do with a Bad Omikuji
The standard advice for a bad fortune omikuji — kyo or dai-kyo — is to tie it to the pine tree or the designated wire rack at the shrine. The reasoning has two layers. First, the Japanese word for tying (musubu, 結ぶ) is the same word used for forming a spiritual bond or relationship — by tying the bad fortune to the shrine’s tree, you are symbolically binding the bad luck to the kami’s care, leaving it behind. Second, the pine tree (matsu, 松) sounds like the verb matsu (待つ, “to wait”), implying that the misfortune will wait at the shrine rather than following you home.
You can also tie a good fortune to the rack if you want it to come true more powerfully. Many people take their good fortunes home and keep them in their wallet for the year. There’s no wrong answer — both practices are observed.
Ema: Wooden Wishing Plaques
Ema (絵馬) means “picture horse” — the word combines the characters for “picture” (絵) and “horse” (馬). This name reflects the original practice: in ancient Japan, live horses were donated to shrines as offerings to the kami, because horses were immensely valuable and powerful creatures. Over time, the practice was democratized — first to painted horse images on wood, then to wooden plaques with a horse illustration on one side and a blank space for the wisher’s prayer on the other.
To use an ema: purchase the wooden plaque (typically ¥500–1,000) from the shrine office, write your wish or prayer on the blank side using the pen provided, and hang it on the designated rack or peg board with hundreds or thousands of others. Shrine priests periodically conduct ceremonies to carry these accumulated wishes to the kami.
What people write is a direct window into human hope: university entrance exam wishes at Kitano Tenmangu and Yushima Tenmangu, love and marriage wishes at Izumo Taisha and Kifune Shrine, business success at Inari shrines, health wishes at temples that enshrine healing deities. At some entertainment-district shrines, ema from actors and musicians crowd the racks.
Special and Unique Ema
Many shrines produce ema in shapes specific to their identity: fox-shaped ema at Fushimi Inari and other Inari shrines; deer-shaped at Kasuga Taisha in Nara; rabbit-shaped at Okazaki Shrine in Kyoto (dedicated to the rabbit deity); lobster-shaped at the coastal Sumiyoshi shrines. This diversity makes ema collecting a rewarding hobby for shrine visitors — each plaque is a small, affordable, and culturally meaningful souvenir that can’t be bought anywhere except at the shrine itself.
A distinctive modern development: some anime and pop culture shrines produce ema with licensed character illustrations. Washinomiya Shrine in Saitama became famous as the setting of the anime Lucky Star and now has ema featuring the characters. The phenomenon of fans leaving ema at shrines connected to their favorite works has become a recognized aspect of Japanese fan culture, and several shrines have embraced rather than discouraged it.