Hemp in Ritual Contexts

Hemp also forms a part of ritual practice apart from Shinto shrines

in public festivals and home worship. A single strand of hemp rope often with paper shimenawa is used to denote a ritual space.

Shinto rituals are often performed in naturally beautiful settings. Hemp ropes with paper shime demarcate ritual boundaries, and hemp bast ribbons hang from the ōnusa purification wands. Postcard image from 1930s.

Wedding couple posed in a traditional Shinto setting at a Tokyo photo studio. Hemp bast ribbons hang from the shimenawa ritual rope above,

and adorn the ōnusa standing atop the altar behind.

Hemp is associated with purity and longevity.

Shinto kamidana (神棚, literally kami or spirit shelf) home shrines are often fitted with miniature hemp shimenawa and suzunawa ropes

and additional venerated objects.