Japanese “fortune slips” in virtual space

The article presented to your attention addresses the problem the virtualization of the well-known traditional Japanese divination practice — “omikuji” (translated from Japanese as “divine lot”), and also touches upon more global issues such as how Japanese religious practices are currently developing on the Internet. A significant portion of the research is dedicated to analyzing the transformation process of a religious tradition that used to be practiced exclusively “in person” and examining how contemporary Japanese people of different age groups and social status relate to the phenomenon of web religiosity. The study is based on data collected from an online survey conducted in July 2023. A total of 32 people responded to the survey (almost all informants are either Japanese or long-time foreign expatriates residing in Japan). The article includes screenshots of digital omikuji and their translations made by the author. The results of the study indicate that virtualization has made the practice of omikuji more accessible to laypeople, especially for people with disabilities. The texts of the predictions were significantly simplified during their virtualization. However, as the survey results suggest, the accessibility of the practice has led to a certain degree of loss of trust among believers. While omikuji had previously been perceived by the Japanese as a kind of entertainment within the temple or shrine grounds, the transition of the practice to the online space has further “simplified” it. Moreover, virtualization has turned the practice of traditional divination into another tool of promoting and advertising Japanese commercial companies, which negatively affects the perception of the omikuji tradition among believers.