Warazaiku – Iwai Game – large

Warazaiku, a craft made of straw. Tightly intertwined with agriculture and the Shinto religion, it was traditionally crafted by farmers with the byproduct of rice harvest. Made by coiling the straw between the palms of the craftspeople’s hands, prayers for good fortune are interwoven into the amulet. The “iwai game” (celebratory turtle) is made with ears of rice farmed on the paddies on top of the terraces of the town of Hinokage, in Miyazaki prefecture. The turtle is famous for its longevity, as it is said that a crane can live for a thousand of years but a turtle for ten thousand. This good luck charm is then a wish of long life and continuity.