Everyone at the Shrine Is Tying Little Papers to a Rack. That's Bad Luck Being Left Behind on Purpose.
To say a paper fortune drawn at a shrine in Japanese, say おみくじ (omikuji).
Those little white papers tied to the rack aren't decorations. That's bad luck, left behind on purpose.
In this video
- おみくじを引きます。 omikuji o hikimasu. You draw an omikuji.
- 悪いおみくじは結んで帰ります。 warui omikuji wa musunde kaerimasu. A bad fortune, you tie up and leave behind.
Why this phrase
You pay about a hundred yen, shake a box, and draw a paper fortune called an おみくじ. The part tourists miss is the ending: a bad one gets tied to the rack at the shrine and left there. One takeaway: おみくじ is the drawn fortune, and a bad one you tie up and walk away from. Do NOT list 大吉 中吉 小吉 as vocabulary, that turns a cultural wedge into a glossary.
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