My mother living in western Japan Shimane prefecture sent us Ofuda last week.She sends Ofuda every year in this season.
Ofda is a strip of paper or a piece of wood which has been blessed and sanctified by a Japanese Shinto priest or a Buddhist monk.
It's said that Ofuda is to bring the bearer good luck or protection against those with evil.
My mother, my brother and my sister living in Shimane are rather religious comparing with me.
The power of Ofuda expires at the end of the year so people must buy new ones for the New Year.
This custom has lasted over several hundred years in Japan, I guess, and is a very clever custom for sellers.
They are usually sold at shinto shrines or buddhist temples, recently they are sold on the web, too.
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