Ushi no toki mairi

Common card · No. 376345

Ushi no toki mairi (Japanese: 丑の時参り; lit. "ox-hour shrine-visit") or ushi no koku mairi (丑の刻参り) refers to a traditional Japanese method of cursing a target, so called because it is conducted during the hours of the Ox (between 1 and 3 AM). The practitioner—typically a scorned woman—hammers nails into the sacred tree (神木, shinboku) of a Shinto shrine while dressed in white and crowned with an iron ring laden by three upright candles. In the common modern-day depiction, the nails are driven through a straw effigy of the victim, impaling the doll upon the tree. The ritual must be repeated seven days in a row, after which the curse is believed to succeed, causing death to the target. However, being witnessed in the act is thought to nullify the spell. The Kifune Shrine in Kyoto is famously associated with this ritual. Also variously called ushi no toki mōde (丑の時詣で), ushi mairi (丑参り), or ushimitsu mairi (丑三参り).

Read on Wikipedia · Image Toriyama Sekien (鳥山石燕, Japanese, *1712, †1788), Public domain