@japan.beforeyougo: There's salt outside the door 🧂 Walk past a traditional restaurant in Japan and you'll find a small white cone of salt sitting on a saucer beside the entrance — often one on each side. It's called morishio. Salt is a purifier in Shinto, so the cone is there to keep bad luck out and, just as importantly, to draw customers in. The custom goes back to the Nara and Heian periods, and there are competing explanations for where it came from. The one people like best points to China: in the court of Emperor Sima Yan of Western Jin, the palace women are said to have put salt outside their rooms, because the emperor toured the palace by ox cart — and oxen stop for salt. Whether or not that's the true origin, the idea survived as "salt brings the guest to your door". Save this 🇯🇵 #japan #japantravel #japaneseculture #onlyinjapan #japanfacts

Japan Before You Go

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Tuesday 25 August 2026 04:43:46 GMT