A Japanese votive card “Senja-Fuda”

千社札

A votive card "Senja-fuda" is a card which wished global peace and the safety of the family.

 

A long time ago, the card of a wooden board or paper was dedicated to shrines and temples. Now, many people have it as a charm card in which people's name was written. 

 

This charm card written in the elegant character continues to make people happy. 

 


世界平和と家内安全を願うお札が「千社札」。昔は、その木札や紙札を神社仏閣に奉納していた。今は、自分の名前が書かれた札をお守りとしてもっている人々が多い。風流な文字で書かれたこのお守りは、これからも人々を幸せにしていくだろう。

Carp streamer "KOI-NOBORI"

こいのぼり

There is a legend of the primitive ages "the carp climbed the waterfall and became a dragon." By that, a carp comes to symbolize success in life. 

 

At the samurai home of the Edo period, when the male baby was born, the "carp streamer" was decorated in the yard on May 5 every year, and his future success in life was wished. 

 

Now, the colorful carps drawn on cloth carry “a revival prayer of the Tohoku district and everybody's wish”on their back, and are swimming in the sky. 


鯉が滝をのぼって龍になった大昔の伝説から、鯉が立身出世を象徴するようになる。江戸時代、侍の家庭では、男児が誕生すると毎年5月5日に「こいのぼり」を設置し、将来の出世を願った。布に描かれた艶やかな鯉たちは今、東北地方の復興や、みんなの願いを乗せて大空を泳いでいる。