A thick shimenawa is strung at the entrance to the approach to Akagi Jinja Shrine in Nagareyama

Thick shimenawa (sacred rope) at Akagi Shrine

When I visited Izumo-taisha shrine in the past, I saw a shimenawa that was unusually thick compared to other shimenawa I had seen before, and I had my own hypothesis that the shimenawa in the San-in region were thicker than the standard shimenawa in Japan. However, my hypothesis, which began to waver when I saw a thicker shimenawa at the Achi Jinja Shrine in Kurashiki, was completely shattered when I saw another thick shimenawa at the Akagi Jinja Shrine in Nagareyama, Chiba Prefecture, which I visited that day. The truth is that whether a shrine's shimenawa is thick or thin is not determined by the region, but simply varies from shrine to shrine.

Also, the location of the shimenawa seems to be different at each shrine. Most of the time, it seems to me that they are hung at the entrance to a building, such as a prayer hall, but at Akagi Jinja Shrine in Nagareyama, they were hung at the entrance to the approach, not at the prayer hall or the Torii gate. This shimenawa, a 500-kilometer-long rope, was made with the cooperation of local residents and shrine parishioners. It was a spectacular sight and was so beautifully twisted that it looked as if a giant ginseng was being held aloft.

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