Holy, God Balls, Batman! (Patreon)

How did I not know about these?!

神玉 or God Balls.

I knew about the temple and shrine stamps (goshuin) that you can get and have put into your stamp book (goshuincho), but I somehow missed these wooden balls that you can also collect at certain shrines.

Evidently, the practice has been around since the Heian Era when people would set out on pilgrimages to important shrines and make prayers for some big thing or other. As proof the visit and also as a boost for their prayers (as each balls in imbued with some god essence!!), they'd receive a wooden ball. Nowadays, it sounds like the pilgrimages incorporate more than one shrine and if you visit them all and collect all the kamitama then your wish will come true✨. Some have boxes with cutouts that the balls can be placed in and displayed, like this:

...while others can be threaded on a cord and hung up near your kamidana (god shelf) or anywhere, I suppose.

At the foot of Mount Fuji there are seven shrines that complete a set.

Some are smaller. I just checked and the shrines in Hokkaido can fit on a bracelet.

The below link is to the ones in the Enshū Kamitama. Enshū is the old name for Shizuoka and the surrounding areas. I'm so excited to try and collect them all.

https://www.mitsuke-tenjin.com/051031_yaedama/

Oh! It's in Japanese, but I found a kamitama map for anyone here or planning to visit. It looks like sometimes there are bus tour, too, where they take you from shrine to shrine so you can collect them all in one day.

https://kamitamajunpai.com/

Hello, Dragon Balls! Okay, I'm off to read more. Stay safe and well! I'll be back from Hokkaido soon with (hopefully) some nice photos and video. XO, (*^▽^*)

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