Get your rocks on
When I snapped the photos below during my trip to Kyushu earlier this year, I was reminded of a custom that I had heard about and often saw when I lived down there. People say that if you can toss a stone up to the crossbeams of a torii and get it remain up there without falling down, you will have good fortune or your wish will come true, or something like that.
Upon seeing all the stones on this torii (which was actually so small that you could easily walk up to it and place a stone onto the crossbeam), I realized that could not remember seeing anything similar in Kanto.
Does anyone know about how widespread this custom is?
Is it followed where you live?
Is it followed in Kanto? Or does the frequency of earthquakes here make it ill-advised or even illegal?
Somehow I doubt some of those bigger stones were throw up there. Anything short of a perfect throw with those things would have probably damaged the torii.
I don’t see any rocks on the torii at shrines around here (kanto), and the news report I wrote about here seems to look down on the practice.
August 11th, 2006 at 2:14 pmAt Izumo Taisha it is supposed to be lucky to throw a coin and get it to stick in the straw that hangs down from the tori and over the entrances of the main buildings. It’s next to impossible to do unless you get there the day after they put the new straw up.
August 11th, 2006 at 3:49 pmWhat happens if you accidently knock the other stones off?
August 15th, 2006 at 1:32 pmI don’t think Mick would be very ‘appy with that proposition..:neutral:
August 15th, 2006 at 3:34 pm