Omamori
A small brocade amulet sold at Japanese shrines and temples for health, safety, exams or love.
Also: Japanese amulet, shrine charm, mamori
An omamori is a pouch of brocade, a couple of centimetres to several wide, enclosing a thin wooden or paper slip blessed at a Shinto shrine or Buddhist temple. Different charms are sold for health, safe driving, success in exams, childbirth, business and relationships. It is carried in a bag, hung from a car mirror or kept at a desk. The pouch should not be opened, since the blessing is held to be inside. After a year the omamori is returned to the shrine to be burned in a rite, and a new one is bought. Some temples add omamori for pets, phones and sports. They are given as gifts and are a regular part of Japanese daily life.