Shimenawa
lengths of laid rice straw or hemp rope used for ritual purification in the Shinto religion
Shimenawa (標縄/注連縄/七五三縄, lit. 'enclosing rope') are lengths of laid rice straw or hemp rope used for ritual purification in the Shinto religion.
Shimenawa vary in diameter from a few centimetres to several metres, and are often seen festooned with shide—traditional paper streamers. A space bound by shimenawa typically indicates a sacred or ritually pure space, such as that of a Shinto shrine. Shimenawa are believed to act as a ward against evil spirits, and are often set up at a ground-breaking ceremony before construction begins on a new building. They are often found at Shinto shrines, torii gates, and sacred landmarks.
Shimenawa are also placed on yorishiro, objects considered to attract spirits or be inhabited by them. These notably include being placed on certain trees, the spirits considered to inhabit them being known as kodama. Cutting down these trees is thought to bring misfortune. In the case of stones considered to be inhabited by spirits, the stones are known as iwakura (磐座/岩座).
The public source identifies “Shimenawa” as lengths of laid rice straw or hemp rope used for ritual purification in the Shinto religion. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Shimenawa, lengths and laid.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1887421. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Shimenawa” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.