Yamaguchi: Shrine Hands Out Lucky Headbands to Test-Takers for Free As Entrance Exam Season Has Come

The Yomiuri Shimbun

10:39 JST, January 4, 2025

HOFU, Yamaguchi — As entrance exam season nears, Hofu Tenmangu Shrine in Hofu, Yamaguchi Prefecture, has begun offering test-takers hachimaki headbands for free as good luck charms.

The headbands are ones that were returned to the shrine by those who passed their exams last year.

The shrine is dedicated to Sugawara no Michizane, who is known as the god of learning.

Every year, test-takers preparing for their entrance exams visit the shrine to get a set of ema wooden votive tablets and a headband as a lucky charm for academic success.

The shrine asks those who passed their exams to return their headbands, and some people do so as a way to express their gratitude. The shrine washes and irons the returned headbands before giving them to those who wish to have them. The headbands can also be mailed at the recipients’ own expense.

The shrine hopes that the headbands will help encourage test-takers in the final days before their exams.

On Dec. 16, four shrine maidens washed about 3,000 returned headbands and carefully hung them to dry on the grounds of the shrine.

The headbands have the word “endeavor” printed on them. Some of them also have messages written by their former owners, such as “Go for it, pass the exam,” among other words of encouragement.

“I hope that the wishes of the headbands’ previous owners will be passed on, and that the efforts of [this year’s test-takers] will bear fruit,” said a 21-year-old shrine maiden.