Shinto shrines across Japan adopt countermeasures against the virus before New Year’s precipitation

As the Japanese plan traditional visits to the New Year’s shrine to pray for a better year after the virus-crowned 2021, shrines and temples across the country are taking steps to curb the risks of COVID-19.

After the coronavirus outbreak began, many Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples removed their hishaku spoons for washing hands and suzunoo ropes to ring bells, as infected visitors could spread the virus to other people through contact with the elements.

Kyoto’s Yasaka shrine replaced its suzunoo in June with a speaker that reproduces the sound of bells as visitors pass their hands over a sensor.

The sanctuary is considering removing the speaker during the New Year period, as the novelty of the tool may attract visitors and increase the risk of infection.

The Ikuta Shrine in Kobe has introduced a contact minimization system for Kobe omikuji fortunes. Instead of removing numbered sticks from a box, visitors can scan a QR code with their smartphones to virtually draw a number, which they can show to sanctuary workers receiving paper fortunes.

“I hope people draw (omikuji) with his prayers concentrated on his fingertips, “said shrine worker Masaaki Sawada, 36.

There is growing concern that the rush to visit shrines and temples during the holidays can lead to closed, crowded and close contact environments, which are said to increase the risk of coronavirus infection.

Meiji Jingu, a Shinto shrine in Tokyo’s Shibuya district, and Naritasan Shinsho-ji, an important Buddhist temple in Narita, Chiba Prefecture, called on people to avoid visits in the first three days of the new year. year and not enter large groups. Both places are known to attract a large number of visitors.

Movements are even made to get visitors to resent before the turn of the year. Some shrines distribute items of good luck for the coming year before New Year’s Day.

“There can be many forms” of prayers, said a representative of the Hiroshima Gokoku shrine in the city’s Naka neighborhood, who suggested the prayers offered this year will be effective in bringing good luck in the new year.

Kashima Jingu, a shrine in Kashima, Ibaraki Prefecture, appeals to people not to be private to visit only the first three days of the new year, but to distribute their visits during the first 33 days of 2021, until February 2nd.

“By presenting this period as a reference, we believe visitors will be handed out,” said Tomonori Niikura, 42, the sanctuary’s public relations officer. “The new year is an important time to meet with family members, so we want them to visit while they take infection prevention measures.”