shimenawa

Therefore, on every New Year's Day, the leaves of the yuzuriha, mingled with fronds of fern, are attached to the shimenawa which is then suspended before every Izumo home. º5

Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan Second Series Lafcadio Hearn 1877

All of bronze it is, with shimenawa of bronze above it, and a brazen tablet inscribed with characters declaring: 'This is the Palace of the

Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan First Series Lafcadio Hearn 1877

Next observe that, although the shimenawa may be of any thickness, it must be twisted so that the direction of the twist is to the left; for in ancient Japanese philosophy the left is the 'pure' or fortunate side: owing perhaps to the old belief, common among the uneducated of Europe to this day, that the heart lies to the left.

Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan Second Series Lafcadio Hearn 1877

The shimenawa and the paper gohei are the true emblems of Shinto: even the ofuda and the mamori are quite modern.

Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan Second Series Lafcadio Hearn 1877

For his use alone a special bathing house has been built upon a ledge of the cliff overhanging the little settlement of Inasa: it is approached by a narrow pathway shadowed by pine-trees; and there is a torii before it, and shimenawa.

Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan First Series Lafcadio Hearn 1877

But as in a dream I still see the mighty avenue, the long succession of torii with their colossal shimenawa, the majestic face of the Guji, the kindly smile of the priest Sasa, and the girl priestess in her snowy robes dancing her beautiful ghostly dance.

Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan First Series Lafcadio Hearn 1877

On both days the streets are beautifully decorated with lanterns and shimenawa, the fringed ropes of rice straw which are the emblems of Shinto.

Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan Second Series Lafcadio Hearn 1877

Sometimes the shimenawa is made of bronze, when the torii itself is of bronze; but according to tradition it should be made of straw, and most commonly is.

Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan First Series Lafcadio Hearn 1877

Passing the torii I ascend a flight of perhaps one hundred stone steps, and find at their summit a second torii, from whose lower cross-beam hangs festooned the mystic shimenawa.

Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan First Series Lafcadio Hearn 1877

[3] And the shimenawa, in its commoner and simpler form, has pendent tufts of straw along its entire length, at regular intervals, because originally made, tradition declares, of grass pulled up by the roots which protruded from the twist of it.

Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan First Series Lafcadio Hearn 1877