Hatsumoude
Akemashite Omedetou!
Today I went to 小網神社 (Koami Shrine) in Ningyocho. The shrine is Tokyo’s 銭洗い弁天, god of good business. 銭洗い literally means “money wash”, and there is a place where you put your money in a basket and purify them with water. You’re then supposed to use that money for meaningful purposes. So I washed some coins and prayed for a good prosperous 2008.
The shrine is also famous for 強運厄除 (very lucky/ward off evil), because every soldier since the Meiji era who carried amulets from this shrine and went to the battlefields came back alive. So I got a 強運厄除 amulet myself:
There were a couple of Japanese sweets stores open, so I got a 花びら餅 (flower-petal-mochi). This is sold only around New Year’s, and consists of a burdock root and white miso paste wrapped in red mochi, then in white mochi.
