お守り (Omamori) – Amulet

20th July – 文月

Most Japanese have had at least one in their life – お守り(Omamori = Amulet), is the sacred familiar item sold in shrines. お守り sold at shrines receive worships and wishes from prayer and that ritual gives god power dwell inside.

Nowadays, there are various types of お守りspecific for each wishes, such as

健康祈願 (Good health)

恋愛成就 (fulfillment in love)

金運上昇 (great money lack)

交通安全 (road safety)

合格祈願 (success in examinations)

Having the right お守り is believed to make the wish comes true.

People generally purchase new お守りwhen they go to 初詣 (Hatsumoude) each year.

Most common style is pouch amulet and it is tied up at the top with strings. This stands for keeping the power of god inside. お守り acts as a substitute for you and protect from disasters and bad lacks.

Opening お守り is breach of manner and strongly unrecommended to do so. This is because if opening お守り, inside will be violated and it will lose the power.

It is said that the best way to receive the power from god is to hang it from neck, however if it is unrealistic to do so, you can just carry it with you all the time. Or locating it at noticeable, bright and high spot in the house. In either case, treating it carefully and courteously in order to get the best help from gods. お守り watches over the owners, so it should be kept close to the owner all the time.

There are no expiry date for お守り, but it is believed to be good to return お守り after one year.

When the wish comes true before a year, people go back to the shrine where they bought the amulet and return the amulet back. Normally you should return it to the exact shrine where you bought the amulet, but if it is too far or have some reason you cannot go back, it is accepted to return the amulet to the other shrine.