HEIHAKU

=Go-hei. An upright stick with hanging zig-zag strips of white (occasionally some red) paper, cloth or even metal attached to either side, usually placed in front of the doors of thehonden, or carried wherever the kami travels, e.g. in ashinko-shikiprocession. It may be used, like atamagushi, as an offering (hobei) to the kami, or be regarded as theshintai, or simply indicate the presence of the kami. It may reflect an old practice of offering cloth (saimotsu) to the shrine and can also be seen as a symbolic tree or bridge by which the kami cross into the world. The term is sometimes used, perhaps erroneously, to refer toshide; strips of white paper cut in zig-zag fashion and hung from theshimenawa.