The counting of money offered in the first three days of the New Year has started at Fushimi Inari Taisha shrine in Fushimi Ward, Kyoto, known as a shrine for good business.
About 10 bankers clad in white garment count bills and coins collected from about 50 offering boxes for about five days. Counting started Friday.
The shrine said thanks to good weather, it drew many visitors on the first three days of 2019. In the boxes were found checks stipulating an amount of money using numerals to create word puns -- such as 11104, which could be read as "ii toshi" (good year) and 29451, which could be pronounced as "fukuyo koi" (I wish for good luck).
The shrine said it has collected many foreign bills, such as China's renminbi, in recent years, reflecting the increase of foreign visitors.
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