Nusa ceremony, Shimane, Japan 四手

Nusa or Onusa to give them their honorific name, are purification wands used in Shinto ceremonies and rituals.

Purification, and its converse - pollution, are probably the most important concepts for an understanding of Shinto, and any Shinto ceremony or ritual will involve several forms of purification. Onusa, sometimes called gohei, are waved over people, spaces, and things, to purify them.

On a visit to any major shrine you are likely to see priests or Miko (shrine maidens) performing Oharae on visitors who have purchased a simple purification ceremony.

Onusa come in all shapes and sizes, and consist of paper streamers, shide, attached to a staff of unpainted wood or sakaki, the sacred tree of Shinto. In the video, an unusually large and ornate Onusa is being handed to the senior priest by a junior priest at Omoto Kagura Matsuri in Oda village, Shimane. This ceremony only takes place every 7 years, and honors a local god.

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