Hello Kitty Shinto Shrine

If anyone thought that Hello Kitty would stop at trying to take over after creating her own western religion and an alternative would have greatly underestimated the world domination plans of this little feline. She also has her hand in Eastern religion with her own shrine with (of course) her as the deity under the Sanrio banner:

Hello Kitty Shinto shrine

And for anyone who doesn’t believe that it is supposed to be a true religious experience, read this description from the Pagan Prattle:

This shrine is not the only religious experience to be had at Puroland. The centrepiece of the establishment is the enormous Wisdom Tree. A path winds up the tree, alongside which are small shrines and altars to the various Sanrio characters. At the very top, you go inside the tree and encounter yet another shrine. This one is Hello Kitty’s Bell of Happiness. There appears to be no source of water for ritual purification (maybe nothing is impure once it has entered Kitty’s domain?) but, apart from that, the ritual is the same as at any other Shinto shrine. You approach the altar, and ring the bell, bow a couple of times, then clap your hands twice, then bow again. There is no collecting box in front of the altar but, as at many other Shinto shrines, you can buy an ema – a special card – on which you write your wish and hang up on a special frame located nearby.

As would be expected, my wife thinks this is wonderful. She wants to place a mini shrine in our house (like all the Hello Kitty crap isn’t enough) so that we can pray directly each morning to the feline goddess — “She would make sure that each day would be filled with love and joy” is her take on it although I prefer to substitute “love” with “despair” and “joy with “pain” which pretty much sums up Hello Kitty Hell…

Thanks to Katy (via Pagan Prattle) who should be forced to kneel down in front of Hello Kitty 12 hours a day as penance for thinking sending me this was a good idea.

7 thoughts on “Hello Kitty Shinto Shrine”

  1. Dude, my condolences. I couldn’t stand to live with someone who has such a serious obsession. I’m not a Hello Kitty fan at all….the only Hello Kitty items I own are a kimono’d Hello Kitty doll and some Chococat items that a friend gave me. My tastes run more towards black humor: Nyan Nyan Nyanko is totally my speed, and I love watching the look on people’s faces when they walk into my cube and are confronted with the plush Roast Nyanko. Even so, the Nynakos number less than a dozen.

    I have to commend you for having the patience and good humor to endure this 24/7; I’d go stark raving mad and have a giant Burning Hello Kitty festival in the front yard.

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  2. This was the religion we banned after WW2! It turned out, everyone kept with the religion but in private while we occupied Japan. They weren’t supposed to. We banned their religion.

    The emperor only a few years ago performed a Shinto ceremony in public- we didn’t complain so it’s back!

    Apparently Hello Kitty was able to easily able to overtake the religion!

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