Yesterday my family and I visited a nearby Shinto shrine together, which is a part of our New Year tradition called 初詣 (hastumoude) in Japanese.

We visit the Shrine every year, and it has become our family custom. I'm glad that I could visit again with my old parents this year as well.

When you go through a torii (a gate), you can see a big ring, which is called 茅の輪 (chinowa). There is a specific ritual for passing through it, but I was with my little grandson, so I skipped it. The rest of family members followed the instruction. First, they bowed once, stepped into the ring and walked to the left. They then returned to the starting point and bowed again. Next, they stepped through the ring and walked to the right, returned to the starting point and bowed once more. Then they passed through the ring again, walked to the left, returned to the starting pint and bowed. Finally, they went though the ring one last time and walked strait to the main hall.

Before playing, we drew おみくじ ( fortune slip). My mom drew the best fortune and the Shinto staff congratulated her. She seemed to be very happy. Mine in the picture below was the lower fortune, but even so it was still a fortune, so I'm satisfied with it.

After reading them, we normally tie ours to branches of a tree.

While tiding our slings, my dad and I figured out that it was a plum tree and it's been growing lots of buds. We got excited when we saw them.

We prayed for our health, safety, future, family, and more other things.

My two-year-old grandson was very energetic and seemed like enjoying exploring the shrine grounds.

However, he must have run out of energy, and all of a sudden, he stopped moving as if he was like a robot. Unfortunately, nobody had a charger for him, so his dad had to carry him.

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