gohei

{{Short description|Shinto wand}}

{{Italic title|reason=:Category:Japanese words and phrases}}{{More footnotes needed|date=November 2021}}Image:Shinto gohei.jpeg

{{nihongo||御幣|Gohei}}, {{nihongo||御幣|onbe}}, or {{nihongo||幣束|heisoku}} are wooden wands, decorated with two {{transliteration|ja|shide}} (zigzagging paper streamers) used in Shinto rituals. It may be considered an Ōnusa with only two Shide.

The streamers are usually white, although they can also be gold, silver, jade, or a mixture of several colors, and are often attached as decorations to straw ropes ({{transliteration|ja|shimenawa}}) used to mark sacred precincts.

The shrine priest or attendants ({{transliteration|ja|miko}}) use the {{transliteration|ja|gohei}} to bless or sanctify a person or object in various Shinto rituals. The {{transliteration|ja|gohei}} is used for some ceremonies, but its usual purpose is to cleanse a sacred place in temples and to cleanse, bless, or exorcise any object that is thought to have negative energy. In addition to its use in purification rituals, it may be included in an {{transliteration|ja|ōnusa}} (wooden wand with many {{transliteration|ja|shide}}), and serve as the object of veneration ({{transliteration|ja|shintai}}) in a Shinto shrine.

A type of food called Goheimochi is thought to have been named after the staff.{{cite web |title=Food: The Gohei mochi in the Edo era |url=https://www.discovertajimi.com/goheihistory.html |website=Tajimi Tourism Association |access-date=26 February 2024 |language=en}}

The characters Reimu Hakurei and Sanae Kochiya from Touhou Project wield gohei.