How to make a Japanese Shimenawa

My wife's uncle demonstrates how to make a traditional Japanese shimenawa prayer rope. These ropes are used to designate areas of spiritual importance (such as shrines or holy trees, waterfalls, etc) and are an interesting and important part of the Japanese native religion, Shinto.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• Shimenawa
• Shinto
• Japan
• Tokaido
• Softypapa

[uzerofutube]

I thought it was a bushcraft rope making tutorial, but how come you could run into all these things in Japan?

[softypapa]

@uzerofutube I walk around a lot and always keep my eyes open and camera handy. ~Kurt :-)

[namelessDude85]

thanx for this awesome video. i got the hang of the shimenawa perfectly.

:)

[softypapa]

@namelessDude85 That's wonderful! Thank you for watching and taking the time to let me know this video was helpful. Have a great week! ~Kurt :-)

[SargonBighorn]

I noticed the first step was not captured in the video. He twisted two bundles and left the middle bundle untwisted? Is that correct? Or are all three twisted?  It's not a basic three strand braid. Did he twist two bundles around one?

[softypapa]

@SargonBighorn I actually missed several steps before I was able to get the camera ready. Another thing I missed was when he soaked the straw in boiling water which I believe was done to make it pliable prior to twisting. I am very sorry though I do not remember how many bundles were twisted or in what manner this was done. Thank you for watching. ~Kurt :-)

[grangersmith]

Beautiful,what does the zig zag paper signify or is symbolic of? I am very curious about that because it seems to be a powerful Shinto symbol.

[54mwi53]

Beautiful!

[Goat5611]

great video! my wife's father does this the exact same way! 

[sz42781]

Japanese culture has amazing ingenuity!

[ninjaofthe9seas]

I'm making a sculpture project with kadoma similar to the ones in the Princess Mononoke movie, and i think this would be a good addition to the atmosphere. :)

[jin54363]

@antijelly

they are called shide

[cnett66]

ha its funny i watched almost all of these and the leech vs earthworm vid is in the suggestions the vid that hooked me on these great vids keep up the awesom vids and god bless kami sama ga mamoru youni if thats how u say it

[theducttapeguy00]

how much would that piece sell for?