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Harae is the general term for rituals of purification in Shinto
Shinto

is the former state religion of Japan and remains the most common name for the nation's non-Buddhist ethnic religion practices. It was formed from disparate local mythologies, beginning with the Kojiki of 712, into an imperial cult called State Shinto that solidified in the Meiji period....
. The kanji can also be read 'harai'. The purpose is to remove sins (?, tsumi) and impurities (??, kegare), concepts which include bad luck and disease as well as guilt in the English sense. Harae often involves symbolic washing with water, or having a Shinto priest shake a large paper shaker (called an Onusa
Onusa

or are wooden wands used in Shinto ritual. They are decorated with many Shide . They are waved left and right in a ritual purification.Onusa are not to be confused with hataki, which look somewhat similar....
 ??) over the object of purification.






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Harae is the general term for rituals of purification in Shinto
Shinto

is the former state religion of Japan and remains the most common name for the nation's non-Buddhist ethnic religion practices. It was formed from disparate local mythologies, beginning with the Kojiki of 712, into an imperial cult called State Shinto that solidified in the Meiji period....
. The kanji can also be read 'harai'. The purpose is to remove sins (?, tsumi) and impurities (??, kegare), concepts which include bad luck and disease as well as guilt in the English sense. Harae often involves symbolic washing with water, or having a Shinto priest shake a large paper shaker (called an Onusa
Onusa

or are wooden wands used in Shinto ritual. They are decorated with many Shide . They are waved left and right in a ritual purification.Onusa are not to be confused with hataki, which look somewhat similar....
 ??) over the object of purification. People, places, and objects can all be the object of harae.