Shinto Purification Ceremony Held in Northern Japan Shrine; Worshippers at Aomori’s Uto Shrine Burn Items to Pray for Good Health in New Year

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:21 JST, January 15, 2025

AOMORI — About 50 worshippers attended a Shinto purification ritual at Uto Shrine on Dec. 28, burning dolls and other sacred items to pray for good health in the coming year.

After attendees were purified by a priest at the shrine’s worship hall, they purified themselves by passing through chino-wa — a ring made of bamboo and a shimenawa rope measuring about 3 meters in diameter. After burning paper dolls, which are meant to take on human sin and impurity, they threw offerings made of red paper, called gohei, into a fire before joining hands in prayer.

“I hope next year will be a year I can try things I want to try,” a 66-year-old Aomori office worker who participated in the event said. “I feel better physically and mentally now.”