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O-mamori

Enmusubi o-mamori from Myoryuji (the Ninja Temple) in Kanazawa, Japan.

O-mamori are lucky charms sold at shrines and temples. The enmusubi charms are specifically for catching a husband and they often come as a set of two charms.

I got these because I wondered what kind of husband a Ninja Temple charm might bring me. A ninja? A comic book superhero? So far, that hasn't exactly happened. But, as they insist during the Ninja Temple tour, the Ninja Temple "has nothing to do with Ninjas!" So maybe a ninja is too much to expect.

All things even remotely related to weddings just spring to mind nowadays. All the bridesmaid chat impelled me to pull these charms out and play with my camera. I thought I had a bunch of enmusubi charms, but I could only find one other. Really, with all the o-mamori I've got, I should have a bunch of husbands, wild business success, academic success (I did get that), travel safety (not so much, though maybe the travel safety charms gave their little all keeping me alive in the accident), no headaches, lots of money, and a Big Wish granted.

A few non-bridal things happened today. I got some work done. The cats peed on something that was machine washable and placed on a plastic-sealed floor. Now that the weather turned cold and dry, this pretty much blows my humidity theory and I have to conclude that they're just lazy little schmucks. And speaking of schmucks, when I went swimming at the YMCA, this jerk took my towel! At least it was one of the scruffy Y towels and not my personal nice towel with the ponies on it, which was safely back in my locker. When I finished my laps and went over to the bench where my flip-flops were and where my towel used to be, I saw another towel on the nearby windowsill, kind of wadded up and probably damp with essence of towel-stealing jerk. I guess he mistook my neatly folded, dry towel for his.

I bet they don't have a towel-retention o-mamori. I obviously don't have one.