Gohei

Gohei (御幣), onbe (御幣), or heisoku (幣束) are wooden wands, decorated with two shide (zigzagging paper streamers) used in Shinto rituals. It may be considered an Ōnusa with only two Shide.

Gohei in front of Shinto shrine

The streamers are usually white, although they can also be gold, silver, jade, or a mixture of several colors, and are often attached as decorations to straw ropes (shimenawa) used to mark sacred precincts.

The shrine priest or attendants (miko) use the gohei to bless or sanctify a person or object in various Shinto rituals. The gohei is used for some ceremonies, but its usual purpose is to cleanse a sacred place in temples and to cleanse, bless, or exorcise any object that is thought to have negative energy. In addition to its use in purification rituals, it may be included in an ōnusa (wooden wand with many shide), and serve as the object of veneration (shintai) in a Shinto shrine.

A type of food Called Goheimochi is thought to have been named after the staff. The characters Reimu Hakurei and Sanae Kochiya from Touhou Project wield gohei.

See also

• Flail
• Glossary of Shinto for an explanation of terms concerning Japanese Shinto, Shinto art, and Shinto shrine architecture.
• Inau, wooden wands used in Ainu rituals
• Gunbai
• Ruyi (scepter)
• Saihai
• Shaku
• Ōnusa
• Hu

References

• Bowker, John W (2002). The Cambridge Illustrated History of Religions. New York City: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-81037-X. OCLC 47297614.
• Littleton, C Scott (2002). Shinto: Origins, Rituals, Festivals, Spirits, Sacred Places. Oxford, NY: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-521886-8. OCLC 49664424.
• Picken, Stuart DB (2002). The A to Z of Shinto. The Scarecrow Press. ISBN 0-8108-5586-0.