Hi, everyone!
If you are planning a trip to Japan, I think some of you might be interested in Japanese temples and shrines.
When you visit famous temples and shrines, you may see people getting red stamps in thier notebooks. They are getting Goshuin!!
I’m a Goshuin collector myself, so today I will write about Goshuin and recommend you to try getting some during your trip in Japan!
What is Goshuin?
Goshuin is a sacred red stamp!
御朱印
This is how Goshuin is written in Kanji .(Kanji are one of the Japanese characters.)
御 is a character used for sacred things or for showing respect.
朱 means red.(This coller is often used in Japanese Shrines.) 印 means stamp, so 朱印 means red stamp.
As you can guess from the meanings of each character, Goshuin is a sacred red stamp that you can get at Japanese Shrines and Temples.
It looks like the picture below.
Why do I started to collect Goshuin?
I have a few reasons for collecting Goshuin.
- I’m interested in Japanese traditional culture
- I love visiting temples and shrines, and I can recall the experiences at the places by looking back the Goshuin.
- I love collecting things
If you are interested in Japanese spritual culture and plan to visit more than two different temples and shrines, I recommend to get Goshuin.
How to get one.
Get a Gosyuin-cho
I recommend you to get a Goshuin-cho, Which is a special notebook for collecting Goshuin. You can buy them at famous or big temples/shrines. Some turists get Goshuin on thier own notebooks but I think it is not very respectful. Also, many temples/shrins have cool designed goshuin-cho, and I think you would be excited to get one if you like Japanese desgn.
You have to pay!!
You have to pay to get Goshuin!
Usually, Goshuin conteins red stamps and handwriting of the name of the temple/shrine, the name of the god they believe in and tha date you visited. You gave your Goshun-cho to the temple/shrine at the dedicated counter and they write Goshuin on your note book.
It is usually 500 yen. How ever,there are spetial edition Goshuin such as seasonal or mamorial Goshuin. They are more expencive and you have to pay more than 1000 yen.
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