Omamori

[Muz1234]

I have two omamoris in my room, do you guys keep those items? Is it consider bad luck if I get rid of those?

 

[thomas]

Quoted from Wikipedia:

It is not necessary, but amulets are customarily replaced once a year to ward off bad luck from the previous year. Old amulets are usually returned to the same shrine or temple they were purchased at so they can be disposed of properly. Amulets are commonly returned on or slightly after New Year’s. This way the shrine/temple visitor has a fresh start for the New Year with a new omamori.

If you are really worried about getting rid of omamori, just keep them. Or return them the next time you're in Japan.

 

[Muz1234]

I am curious what does this omamori means?

 

[bentenmusume]

It appears to be this one:

学ぶ力（まなぶちから）お守り「学問成就」と「前進力」二つのご加護を授かる 日本最古の生身天満宮

「学問成就」と「前進力」二つのご加護を授かる「学ぶ力お守り」京都の生身天満宮

www.ikimi.jp

It's from Ikimi Tenmangu (Ikimi Tenmangu Kyoto,Japan), which is a shrine in Kyoto, and it's for good fortune in study/learning.

The characters are 生身天満宮, which is the name of the shrine, as well as 学 (meaning "learning"/"study"/"academics") and 力 (meaning "strength"/"power"/"ability").

 

[Muz1234]

If I like to get rid one of the omamoris, do I have to put salt on it and burn it?

 

[bentenmusume]

When someone goes through the trouble of looking something up on the internet to answer one of your questions, it'd be nice if you could acknowledge it with a simple "thank you" rather than just proceeding to the next question as if that person were your servant or a human search engine.

As for your follow-up question, the traditional thing to do is to bring it back to the shrine you got it from, where they'll dispose of it the "proper" way.

If you don't strictly believe in/adhere to the Shinto belief system, however, there's no reason you can't dispose of it any way you want. Trying to burn it yourself sounds like it has potential for hurting yourself or causing an accident and I'd probably avoid it.

 

[Muz1234]

Okay, thanks for the answers, sorry for having enough experience with this kind of stuff...

 

[mdchachi]

Mail them back to the shrines they came from. This way you can be sure you don't receive any bad luck from disposing of them improperly.

 

[Muz1234]

I open the omamori, and I found this ofuda, what does it mean?

 

[mdchachi]

I open the omamori, and I found this ofuda, what does it mean?

View attachment 47447

It's the name of the temple it's from. Looks like it's from Ikimi, the oldest Tenmangu shrine in Japan.

日本最古の生身天満宮公式サイト 仕事のお守り天 晴れる・合格祈願お守りの神社

日本最古の天満宮 生身天満宮の公式ウェブサイトです。仕事のお守り天晴れる（しごとのお守り）・合格祈願お守りや合格梅で有名な神社です。

www.ikimi.jp

 

[Toritoribe]

I open the omamori, and I found this ofuda

By the way, it's considered to be a very common taboo to open omamori and check what is inside it.

お守りの中身ってなに？見るのはやばい？袋が汚れた場合はどうする？｜開運の神様

[jin-yohaku25] [chat face="牛太郎.jpg" name="牛太郎" align="left"

goodharmony.jp

お守りの中身は開けていいの？真実を教えます。 | 福岡のかみさま

神社に参拝したとき、ついでにお守りを購入する人も多いと思います。なお、買ったはいいものの、中身が気になった経験はございませんか？そもそも、お守りは開けてみていいものなのでしょうか。調べましたのでご覧ください。

kamisamahotokesama.com

お守りの中身は開けてはいけない！と昔から言うけどなぜ？中には何があるの？ ｜ ガジェット通信 GetNews

お守りの中身は開けてはいけない！と昔から言うけどなぜ？中には何があるの？

getnews.jp