Shide (Shinto)

Short description: Paper streamer used in Shinto rituals

A Shinto shrine with shide made out of unprocessed hemp fibre. Types of shide

Shide (紙垂, 四手) are zigzag-shaped paper streamers, often seen attached to shimenawa or tamagushi to demarcate holy spaces, and used in Shinto rituals in Japan .[1][2] They are usually found adorning doorways, shrine buildings, and kamidana.

The origins of shide are traced to the yūshide, a thread made from the bark of Broussonetia x kazinoki mentioned in the Kojiki. There are different styles of folding shide. One method requires placing the paper zigzags in a cut slit on a stick, creating a ritual object known as a gohei or heihaku.[3] A gohei is an offering to kami that can be seen on kamidana altars and inside the main building of a Shinto shrine.[4]

A common purification ritual uses a haraegushi, a wooden stick with linen or paper shide attached at the top.[5] A Shinto priest waves the haraigushi over a person, item, or newly bought property, such as a building or a car. The wand is waved at a slow and rhythmic pace, but with a little force so that the shide strips make a rustling noise on each pass of the wand. For new properties, a similar ritual known as jichiin sai (lit. "calming the land") is performed with a haraigushi within an enclosed part of the land (enclosed by shimenawa).

## References

1. ↑ "Shimenawa: Basic Terms of Shinto" (in ja). https://d-museum.kokugakuin.ac.jp/bts/detail/?id=3937.
2. ↑ "Q10 紙垂(しで)の意味と種類を教えて下さい。 - 北海道神社庁のホームページ" (in ja). https://hokkaidojinjacho.jp/ritual-dwelling/qa-10/.
3. ↑ "Heihaku,Go-hei: Basic Terms of Shinto" (in ja). https://d-museum.kokugakuin.ac.jp/bts/detail/?id=3726.
4. ↑ "御幣のまつりかた | 青森港守護神 諏訪神社" (in ja). http://aomori-suwajinja.org/gohei.html.
5. ↑ "Haraigushi: Basic Terms of Shinto" (in ja). https://d-museum.kokugakuin.ac.jp/bts/detail/?id=3719.

## External links

0.00

(0 votes)

Original source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shide (Shinto). Read more

|

Retrieved from "https://handwiki.org/wiki/index.php?title=Religion:Shide_(Shinto)&oldid=872648"