Japan shrine replaces straw rope to welcome new year

The Yomiuri Shimbun

13:41 JST, December 19, 2021

A crane truck lifts a large shimenawa straw rope into place at Miyajidake shrine in Fukutsu, Fukuoka Prefecture, on Saturday. Usually an annual event held ahead of the new year, the shrine’s straw rope was not replaced last year due to the pandemic. Eleven meters long, 2.6 meters in diameter and weighing 3 tons, the sacred rope was woven from bundles of straw grown in rice paddies on the precincts of the shrine.