Tanaka and Hironobu Yasuda from
Tanaka describes superstitions about the
"kita-madura" (north pillow) and about
snakes bringing good luck.
you put your head to the north when you sleep, you
will have bad luck because (in Japan) only dead
people lie with their head to the north. Most
people believe this superstition.
always pay attention to the direction our heads
will point when we put beds in a room or lay futons
on the floor. We call this superstition
"kita-makura." Kita means north.
Makura means pillow.
you put a piece of snake skin into your wallet, you
are going to become rich or find money. Snakes are
a symbol of money and wealth in Japan. Some people
believe the snake is an animal of God, so they
never kill snakes. People say if you kill a snake,
you will lose your money.
Yasuda describes three superstitions about a white
snake, sleep, and the number four.
Japan, there are a lot of superstitions. First,
there is a superstition about a white snake. People
say if someone finds a white snake, he will be
lucky in life. It's an event of good omen; it is
believed that white snakes carry good luck.
Actually, some people put a picture of a white
snake on the wall.
there is one about when we sleep. We can't sleep
with our heads to the north because a dead person
is always buried with his head to the north. It is
believed that death welcomes someone who sleeps
with his head to the north. That's a bad
last one is about the number four. There is a
superstition that four is an unlucky number because
the number four has the identical pronunciation as
the word 'death', so most people tend to avoid it
and most hotels don't use the number four.
are many traditional superstitions, but nowadays
most of them aren't believed by young people.
to: Superstitions Worldwide
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