Japan
Omikuji — Japan's Shrine Lottery of Fate
Draw a numbered stick, receive a slip of paper: Japan's beloved shrine fortune, from great blessing to great curse.
At Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples across Japan, visitors shake a box of numbered sticks and receive an omikuji — a printed fortune ranging from dai-kichi (great blessing) to dai-kyō (great curse), with detailed lines on love, travel, business and health.
Receive a bad fortune and custom offers a remedy: tie the slip to a pine branch or shrine rack, leaving the misfortune behind for the gods to hold.