Customs

Religious rituals and prayers are usually done before meals at home. When they pray, they use a kami shelf, or a kamidana. Here, they place things on the shelf like pictures of family, the emperor, and or the amulet of the Ise Shrine, which is the most important shrine in Japan. Usually, the Japanese pray, make offerings to the shrine, and clap twice at the shelf every morning and evening.

Priests and temple virgins wear white and make offering wrapped in white, a symbol of purity in Shintoism. Sometimes, the priests and temple virgins wear white masks to avoid polluting people’s offering with their breath. White in Japan, represents cleanliness. So, Japanese taxi drivers wear white gloves and factory workers wear white uniforms, to show how clean they work and are.

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Customs