"藁人形 ([i]wara-ningyou[/i], straw dolls)" are Japanese-style [[Voodoo doll]]s.
They are usually made of a few bundles of straw, and are used in a traditional Japanese curse ritual known as "丑の刻参り ([i]Ushi no Koku Mairi[/i])." This ritual is frequently translated into English as "Midnight Anathema Ritual." Every night, the ritual takes place during "Ushi no Koku," the name of a time period used in traditional Japan, representing 1:00 to 3:00 in the morning. The person who executes the curse wears white clothing , paints face powder on his/her face, puts a trivet on his/her head , stands candles on that trivet, wears [[tengu-geta|single-toothed]] [i][[geta]][/i], and at a sacred tree growing in a [i][[shinto]][/i] [[shrine]], selects a [i]wara-ningyou[/i] for a person he/she detests, and nails a [i]gosun-kugi[/i] (a large [[nail]] about 5 inches in length) to the doll. The first person to do this kind of curse in Japan was a very jealous woman who was called "the Bridge Princess of [i]Uji[/i]." But the procedure she used in her ritual is a little different from the "Ushi no Koku Mairi" ritual that has been passed down to today. You may have heard the words "[i]wara-ningyou[/i]" and "[i]gosun-kugi[/i]" in the intro to "魔理沙は大変なものを盗んでいきました([[Marisa stole the precious thing]])."

h4.See also

* [[doll]]
* [[voodoo doll]]
* Wikipedia article(Japanese): "Ushi no Koku Mairi":http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%B8%91%E3%81%AE%E5%88%BB%E5%8F%82%E3%82%8A
藁人形