Japanese people are more superstitious than religious
Some shrines in Japan say they bless you with good fortune for matchmaking. For many Japanese people, religion is not about faith but more about benefits.
In order for a shrine to become a blockbuster shrine, it needs to offer a superstitious benefit or two.
So at these matchmaking shrines, people throw a 5 yen, 10 yen, or 100 yen coin in the offerings box and pray for an encounter with a Prince Charmiing or an ideal partner.
Now, these “blessings” are made up arbitrarily by each shrine, but I think they actually help, not in matchmaking but it keeps people from resorting crazier superstitions.
Here’s an example:
It says here in a self-help book that was written at least 200 years ago (ひとりね by 柳里恭 Yanagi Rikyo), that there is a spell that can make a person you like like you back.
The instructions say, on November 12th, catch a male mouse, cut its stomach open and take out its kidney and dry it out in the shade. I might prefer giving up that girl if I could spare a Nezumi-san’s life and kidney.
Even if I manage to not faint from doing something that gruesome, I’m bet I can’t tell which one is the kidney.
Oh, there is another way! Or, catch a male mouse and remove its testicles, dry it out and sew it into your kimono where your elbow touches. I might prefer giving up that girl altogether if I could be spared of doing any of those activities.
But up to around 200 years ago, the gender balance in Tokyo (then called Edo) was 6 men to 4 women so how desperate men were back then, we don’t know.*
*Average of the gender balance in Edo in 1721 (1.88) and 1843 (1.11).
Leave Nezumi-sans alone 😩!
Hi, I’m Kyota, the author of Amazon Best Sellers [Folk Tales of Japan], [Underdogs of Japanese History], and [Horror Tales of Japan].
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