Traditionally hemp bast strips were twisted into shinto ceremonial ropes including the shimenawa rope often stretched across the iconic torii gate in from of Shinto shrines and the suzuo bell rope suspended before the altar. Strips of hemp bast ribbon are attached to many objects associated with Shinto worship and ritual practice.
Woodblock print of an imagined a visit to a Shinto shrine with a fanciful shimenawa suspended across its torii entrance.
Hemp fiber became more scarce following World War II. This photo dated 1947 shows workers twisting rice straw shimenawa or shidenawa meant to bring good luck and keep the evil spirits away for the New Year festivities.
Today the majority of Shinto shrine shimenawa are made of rice straw or other substitute materials rather than hemp, but the white paper shime (or shide) streamers are still tied to the rope with thin strips of hemp bast.
Suzuo bell ropes displayed in a market.
Suzuo bell ropes often made of hemp bast strips hang prominently in front of Shinto shrines and before the inner altar area. Tochigi town, Tochigi prefecture.
Specially trained crafts persons tightly twist golden hemp fibers into thick Shinto shrine suzuo bell ropes serving to connect worshippers with their spirit worlds by ringing the bell to summon kami nature spirits and ancestors
Suzuo bell ropes are finished at the lower end with a lustrous hemp fiber
fusa tassel this one nearly reaching the ground.
Hemp suzuo bell ropes represent a spiritual connection for
summoning revered ancestral and kami spirits.
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Shopper at a shrine in a busy Kyoto shopping mall
making a wish with a hemp suzuo bell rope .
The fusa tassel of the hemp suzuo bell rope protected by an
attractive cotton twine macrame cover.
Fusa tassles made of dyed hemp fiber are also found attached to the decorative curtains within Shinto shrine's inner sanctuaries.
Ōnusa (大幣: おおぬさz ) also referred to as taima (大麻: たいま or
harainusa (祓幣: はらいぬさ) often stand near the altar
within the inner sanctuary of a Shinto shrine.
Ritual practitioners wave the ōnusa, which often consist of
lightening-like paper gohei (御幣: ごへい) rustling paper streamers,
and golden hemp bast strips, back and forth over worshippers’ heads
to purify them and consecrate the ceremony.
Shinto priest waving an ōnusa wand over the heads of Matsuhiro town citizens following a series of earthquakes in 1965. Paper gohei streamer and hemp bast strip ōnusa wands are used in diverse Shinto purification rituals.
Shinto priest carrying an ōnusa purification wand with hemp bast streamers leading a bridge opening ceremony near Tokyo in 1937.
Print by an unknown artist of a formally dressed lady at a shrine gate.
What is the significance of the ring with paper gohei streamers and fern leaves?
Was the ring braided from hemp bast strips?
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