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Concept
Shimenawa
Summary
lit. 'enclosing rope' are lengths of laid rice straw or hemp rope used for ritual purification in the Shinto religion.
vary in diameter from a few centimetres to several metres, and are often seen festooned with —traditional paper streamers. A space bound by typically indicates a sacred or ritually pure space, such as that of a Shinto shrine. are believed to act as a ward against evil spirits, and are often set up at a ground-breaking ceremony before construction begins on a new building. They are often found at Shinto shrines, gates, and sacred landmarks.
are also placed on , objects considered to attract spirits or be inhabited by them. These notably include being placed on certain trees, the spirits considered to inhabit them being known as . Cutting down these trees is thought to bring misfortune. In the case of stones considered to be inhabited by spirits, the stones are known as 磐座/岩座.
A variation of the are worn in sumo wrestling by (grand champions), during the entrance ceremony to debut as grand champion rank. In this instance, used by are seen as being living (a vessel capable of housing a spirit, known as when inhabited by a spirit), and are therefore visually distinguished as "sacred".
originate in Shinto mythology as a hallowed sacrifice related to the Japanese god called , and are used in various Shinto ceremonies. Aboriginal people in Japan have respected and revered since ancient times.
The prototype of in Shinto is a rope of Amaterasu, Japan's "Heaven-shining great ". According to "A popular dictionary of Shinto", Amaterasu hid in a cave called Amano-Iwato after an argument with her brother Susanoo. Therefore, the entire universe lost its luster. Other deities tried numerous ways to attract Amaterasu out of the cave. At the moment that Amaterasu left the cave, the Futo-tama used a magical rope that drew a line of demarcation between her and the cave, to avoid her returning to the cave. The rope became known as a . Because of the , the universe returned to its previous state.
Official source
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