If you’ve ever been to Japan, you’ve probably seen these pieces of paper hanging on trees, racks, strings, you name it. I initially had the idea these were wishes people had written for themselves hoping to come true, only to find out later they are bad luck fortunes people want to leave at the shrine/temple. Traditionally, these omikuji are tied around pine trees because the Japanese word for pine (松) sounds the same as the word for wait (待つ), so the bad luck fortunes, oh naive little things they are, would wait by the tree instead of follow the person around.
Fortune telling is such a funny thing. It goes back as far as recorded history, and is as accurate as the foretold’s faith allows it to be. If you believe good luck surrounds you, it shows in your confidence, your optimism, and effectively does create a lucky environment. On the other hand, if you believe the foretold dark fortunes, you enshroud yourself in doubt, and the constant fear of when that bad luck will strike wears you down, until one day your vigilance no longer holds, and your fortune is realized.
I wonder about the distribution of omikuji at temples (can’t help it, it’s the data nerd in me), and hope there’s a skew towards good fortunes. After all, there’s no harm in spreading good luck, even if it makes a person more confident and optimistic for just a day.
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