How much does an omikuji cost?

An omikuji usually costs a small offering of around 100 to 200 yen, placed in a box or paid to staff before you draw your slip at the shrine or temple.

What do you do with a bad omikuji?

If you draw a bad omikuji, the custom is to tie it to the rack, wire or tree set aside on the shrine or temple grounds, which is said to leave the bad luck there. You may also keep your omikuji as a reminder if you prefer, as either choice is accepted.

What are the omikuji fortune levels?

Omikuji fortunes typically range from great blessing (daikichi) at the top down to bad luck (kyo) at the bottom, with several middling grades of blessing in between. The exact levels and their order vary from place to place.

Omikuji

Ritual objects

御神籤・ Reading: おみくじ

Definition

Omikuji are paper fortune slips drawn at random at shrines and temples, predicting your luck from great blessing (daikichi) to bad luck (kyo). Unlucky slips are often tied to a rack or tree on the grounds.

What you draw

An omikuji is a paper fortune drawn at random at a shrine or temple. At many places you shake a hexagonal box until a numbered stick drops out, then receive the matching slip from a drawer or a member of staff. Elsewhere you simply take a folded slip from a box or a vending machine, usually for a small offering of around 100 to 200 yen. The slip grades your overall fortune, commonly from great blessing (daikichi) down to bad luck (kyo), and adds short readings on matters such as health, study, business and love.

How to read it

The headline grade matters less than the advice printed beneath it. The slips are written to guide behaviour, so a modest result is a gentle nudge rather than a curse, and even a poor one is read as a warning you can act on. The named categories, such as travel, the person awaited, or a lost article, are worth reading in full, since that is where the practical guidance sits.

What to do with it

You are free to keep your omikuji, especially a good one, as a small reminder. If you would rather leave it behind, tie it to the rack, wire or tree set aside for that purpose on the grounds, a custom said to let you leave any bad luck at the site. Keeping a fortune and tying one are both accepted, so either choice is fine.

Common questions

How much does an omikuji cost?: An omikuji usually costs a small offering of around 100 to 200 yen, placed in a box or paid to staff before you draw your slip at the shrine or temple.
What do you do with a bad omikuji?: If you draw a bad omikuji, the custom is to tie it to the rack, wire or tree set aside on the shrine or temple grounds, which is said to leave the bad luck there. You may also keep your omikuji as a reminder if you prefer, as either choice is accepted.
What are the omikuji fortune levels?: Omikuji fortunes typically range from great blessing (daikichi) at the top down to bad luck (kyo) at the bottom, with several middling grades of blessing in between. The exact levels and their order vary from place to place.