Omikuji are random fortunes written on strips of paper at Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples in Japan.
Fortunes can be any of the following:
- Great blessing (dai-kichi, 大吉)
- Middle blessing (chū-kichi, 中吉)
- Small blessing (shō-kichi, 小吉)
- Blessing (kichi, 吉)
- Half-blessing (han-kichi, 半吉)
- Near-blessing (sue-kichi, 末吉),
- Near-small-blessing (sue-shō-kichi, 末小吉)
- Curse (kyō, 凶)
- Small curse (shō-kyō, 小凶)
- Half-curse (han-kyō, 半凶)
- Near-curse (sue-kyō, 末凶)
- Great curse (dai-kyō, 大凶)
If the prediction turns out to be good, it is customary to keep the slip of paper as a talisman. When the prediction is bad, it is a custom to fold up the strip of paper and attach it to a pine tree in the temple grounds. Supposedly, the tree then bears the curse until the wind blows it away.
