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The Yomiuri Shimbun People throw offerings made of red paper, called gohei, into the fire to pray for good health at Uto Shrine in Aomori on Dec. 28.
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.”
