Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Japan News/Yomiuri
The Japan News/Yomiuri
National
The Yomiuri Shimbun

Tokyo shrine prepares bird figures for annual ritual

(Credit: The Yomiuri Shimbun)

Finishing touches are added to rows of wooden statuettes of uso, or Eurasian bullfinch, at Kameido Tenjin shrine in Koto Ward, Tokyo, on Tuesday. The wooden birds carved by priests and other shrine staff will be used at the shrine's Usokae-shinji ritual on Jan. 23-25.

The shrine sells wooden figures of the bird every year as the uso, whose name is a homonym of the Japanese word for falsehood, is believed to turn bad things into lies and exchange them for good fortune. It is also believed that one can attract good fortune by bringing the old year's bird figure to the shrine and exchanging it for a new one. This year, the shrine expects to sell about 30,000 carved uso statuettes, which come in 11 different sizes, from the pocket size of 4 centimeters tall to big ones taller than 20 centimeters. The ritual will be held for three days, one day longer than in an ordinary year, to ease crowding and avoid spreading the novel coronavirus.

Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.