How to make an OMAMORI

DOMO~~~

This is an otaku craft post I hope you guys would like. First off, I mentioned in my recent post that I’d post about a how to cosplay tip. Unfortunately, I ran out of materials. Ahaha. So for now, let’s make an omamori. 

What is an omamori?

According to Wikipedia; Omamori (御守 or お守り omamori) are Japanese amulets (charms, talismans) commonly sold at religious sites and dedicated to particular Shinto deities as well as Buddhist figures, and may serve to provide various forms of luck or protection. The word mamori (守り) means protection, with omamori being the sonkeigo (honorific) form of the word, "to protect". Originally made from paper or wood, modern amulets are small items usually kept inside a brocade bag and may contain a prayer, religious inscription of invocation.

It’s simple to make your own!

You’ll need:

•        Any type of fabric you want. (I chose a checkered pattern. Hehe~)
•        A string for the omamori’s knot.
•        Thread
•        Needle
•        Scissors
•        A piece of clean paper (could be wood) with your own incantation (see below for more details)

Step 1

Take out your fabric and fold it once. Mark a rectangle of your preferred size and draw two slanted lines on the upper part of the rectangle as seen in the picture. Always put your marks on the wrong side (the side without the prints) of the fabric and then draw an allowance for cutting. The size of my rectangle is 2 inches by 3 inches and the slant is 1 inch. The allowance is the thicker line and that is where you cut the fabric.

Step 2

Sew the bottom, the right and left and the upper slants but leave the top line. And then turn it over.

Step 3

Insert your paper or piece of wood with the prayer inside the pouch. I put this ofuda (a protection paper talisman) inside. Here’s an ofuda... just rotated 90 degrees.

In Shintoism, this paper id given during the New Year and serves as protection against evil, accidents, bad spirits and other bad  elements. The paper says something along the lines of... "A talisman of ancestor of the Goddess,Amaterasu" You can just print this paper and insert it in the omamori or google some Japanese quotes like…  “恋が芽ばえ 好きになり 愛となる 夫婦となりて しあわせに” (read as “Koi ga mebae, suki ni nari, ai to naru fuufuu to narite shiawase ni”) meaning: “The love seed is growing, start from liking, then turn into love, become couples, and happiness ever after.”

Step 4

Use any pointy object to poke a hole through the fabric. I used a pen I didn't realize was working so it has a little hint of blue... sorry. The hole should be big enough for the string to pass through.  

Step 5

Lastly, tie the omamori tassel knot, then insert the string and secure the back with a simple knot.. 

Watch this to see how: 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LcRVGq9lzo

and......

I didn’t put any designs because my fabric looked okay enough. (that and I’m a lazy piece of ....). There are tons of designs! Like a lotus, or even your name in hiragana or katakana.

That’s all for now! Jaa~~~