With the current political landscape, we've been thinking about wara ningyô (straw figures) a lot.

Caviar Emptor: (beware of fish eggs) Make no mistake, this is a curse. We don't recommend it, but if you decide to do it, be sure you really mean it before performing, and are prepared to accept the consequences. Your mileage may vary.

A now a bit of darkness…

1. Divide a hand full of 9 inch long straw into two bundles; one somewhat thinner than the other.
2. Tie the thicker bundle at the top, 1/7 of the way down, and in the middle to form the head, and torso.
3. Insert the thinner bundle crosswise into the thicker below the head to form the arms.
4. Tie threads around the ends of the arms to form the hands.
5. Split the bottom half and tie off the ends to form the legs and feet.
6. Insert something belonging to your intented target. If you can't get anything, insert a slip in paper with their name.

Now that you have your wara ningyô, perform the ushi no koku mairi rite (shrine visit at the hour of the ox) to use it.

1. Wash your hair and dress all in white.
2. Hang a small mirror on a cord around your neck.
3. Place an inverted gotoku brazier with lit candles on its feet, on your head. (For safety reasons, you really should consider using glow sticks tied to your head with a cloth band instead.)
4. Gather your mallet, nail and wara ningyô.
5. Important — Don't be seen while doing this rite.
6. Go to your local shrine at the hour of the ox — 1am to 3 am.
7. Nail the ningyô to a tree, while thinking about your target.
8. Return on each of the next six nights to drive another nail into the wara ningyô.

Note: The hokora doesn't have many trees. Just a rather diseased plum tree and several gnarly volunteer elms. We keep Old Man Plum around for our resident flock of juncos. And no matter what we do to the elms, they adamantly refuse to die.

So if you're thinking of performing the ushi no koku mairi rite and nailing a wara ningyô to one of our trees, please use one of the elms.