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OmikujiOmikuji (おみくじ) are random fortunes written on strips of paper at Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples in Japan. Literally "looking-lottery", these are usually received by pulling one out randomly from a box that one shakes, hoping for the resulting fortune to be good. The o-mikuji falls out of a small hole, scrolled up. (Nowadays, these are often coin-slot machines.) Unrolling the piece of paper reveals the fortune written on it, which can be any one of the following: Great blessing (大吉), Middle blessing (中吉), Small blessing (小吉), Blessing (吉), Half-blessing (半吉), Near-blessing (末吉), Near-small-blessing (末小吉), Curse (凶), Small curse (小凶), Half-curse (半凶), Near-curse (末凶), Great curse (大凶). The o-mikuji predicts the person's chances of his or her hopes coming true, of finding a good match, or generally matters of health, fortune, life, etc. In order for the prediction to come true, it is a custom to fold up the strip of paper and attach it to a tree in the temple grounds. In the event of the fortune being ill, this would also conjure it. Though nowadays, this seems more of a children's amusement, o-mikuji are available at most shrines, and remain one of the traditional activities related to shrine-going, if lesser. Compare perhaps the custom of writing a prayer on a specially-prepared wooden block, which is then tied to an ad hoc scaffold. In the film Lost in Translation, it's an o-mikuji strip that the character Charlotte ties to a tree when she visits a Kyoto temple.
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