Shrine visits start year off right

The Shinto ritual attracts people from all religions and ethnicities who seek blessings and good luck

By Pat Gee

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Dec 29, 2012

~~<p>For the Japanese, observing "shogatsu," or New Year's rituals, ensures an auspicious start to the next 365 days, but in Hawaii local people of all races and religions join in the custom of visiting a Shinto shrine for a blessing and to pick up a variety of elaborately fashioned good-luck charms.</p>
<p>The annual shrine visit is called "hatsumode" and is usually observed the first three days of the new year, according to a news release from the Hawaii Kotohira Jinsha-Hawaii Dazaifu Tenmangu, which described it this way:</p>
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<h4>NEW YEAR'S EVENTS</h4>
Shinto and Buddhist rituals and celebrations welcoming the new year:
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For the Japanese, observing "shogatsu," or New Year's rituals, ensures an auspicious start to the next 365 days, but in Hawaii local people of all races and religions join in the custom of visiting a Shinto shrine for a blessing and to pick up a variety of elaborately fashioned good-luck charms.

The annual shrine visit is called "hatsumode" and is usually observed the first three days of the new year, according to a news release from the Hawaii Kotohira Jinsha-Hawaii Dazaifu Tenmangu, which described it this way: NEW YEAR'S EVENTS Shinto and Buddhist rituals and celebrations welcoming the new year: Login for more...