Oharai (Purification Ritual)

Oharai is a purification ritual performed by Shinto priests to cleanse individuals, objects, places, or entire communities of spiritual impurity (kegare) and misfortune. It is one of the most fundamental practices in Shinto, reflecting the religion's deep concern with purity and pollution.

The ritual typically involves the priest waving a haraegushi (a wand decorated with shide paper streamers) over the person or object being purified while reciting purification prayers. For larger-scale purification, the Oharae no Kotoba — a lengthy recitation cataloging various impurities and asking the kami to carry them away — is chanted.

Oharai is performed in a wide range of contexts: before construction (jichinsai), to bless a new car, to purify a building after a death, to protect people before a dangerous undertaking, and at the semi-annual Oharae ceremonies in June and December that purify the entire nation. The most dramatic form of personal oharai is chinowa-kuguri, where participants walk through a large ring made of kaya grass to shed accumulated impurities.