Udo Shrine: Undama 鵜戸神宮：運玉

Official explanation

Visitors to Udo Shrine can improve their luck by throwing undama, or “lucky orbs.” These clay pebbles are tossed toward the small pool of water, marked with a rope, on a turtle-shaped rock below this ridge. The custom is that men throw with their left hand and women with their right. If the pebble lands in the pool, the thrower’s wish is said to come true. Before the 1950s, people would throw coins instead of these pebbles. This was stopped because children would try to retrieve the money by climbing down to the pool, putting themselves in danger. The rock is called kameishi (“turtle rock”) which is a reference to a myth associated with the shrine’s primary deity, Ugayafukiaezu. Abandoned at birth by his mother, the daughter of the god of the sea, Ugayafukiaezu was raised by his aunt, who traveled to meet him on the back of a giant turtle.

出典: 地域観光資源の多言語解説文データベース（観光庁） — www.mlit.go.jp/tagengo-db. この英語解説文は観光庁の地域観光資源の多言語解説整備支援事業で作成しました。
Source: Japan Tourism Agency, Multilingual Explanation Database. This English text was produced by the Japan Tourism Agency's multilingual explanation project and is shown unedited. Opening hours and services may have changed since it was written.