Omikuji

Omikuji are random fortunes written on strips of paper at Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples in Japan. Literally "sacred lottery", these are usually received by making a small offering (generally a five-yen coin as it is considered good luck) and randomly choosing one from a box, hoping for the resulting fortune to be good. (Nowadays, these are sometimes coin-slot machines.) The omikuji is scrolled up, and unrolling the piece of paper reveals the fortune written on it. It includes a general blessing which can be any one of the following:

• Great blessing (dai-kichi, 大吉)

• Middle blessing (chū-kichi, 中吉)

• Small blessing (shō-kichi, 小吉)

• Blessing (kichi, 吉)

• Half-blessing (han-kichi, 半吉)

• Near-blessing (sue-kichi, 末吉)

• Near-small-blessing (sue-shō-kichi, 末小吉)

• Curse (kyō, 凶)

• Small curse (shō-kyō, 小凶)

• Half-curse (han-kyō, 半凶)

• Near-curse (sue-kyō, 末凶)

• Great curse (dai-kyō, 大凶)