HOFU, Japan >> As entrance exam season approaches, Hofu Tenmangu Shrine in Hofu, Yamaguchi prefecture, is offering test-takers free hachimaki (headbands) as good luck charms.

The hachimaki were worn by successful students who passed their exams last year.

Hofu Tenmangu Shrine is dedicated to Sugawara no Michizane, known as the god of learning.

Each year, test-takers preparing for their entrance exams visit the shrine to receive a set of ema — wooden votive tablets, upon which wishes are written and then left at the shrine — and hachimaki, lucky charms for academic success.

The shrine asks those who passed their exams to return the headbands, and some do so as an expression of gratitude. The shrine washes and irons the hachimaki before giving them to the next round of students.

On Dec. 16, four shrine maidens washed about 3,000 hachimaki that were returned and carefully hung them to dry at the shrine.

The hachimaki are printed with the word “endeavor,” and some also bear encouraging messages written by their former owners, such as, “Go for it, pass the exam!”

“I hope that the wishes of the headbands’ previous owners will be passed on, and that the efforts of (this year’s test-takers) will bear fruit,” said a shrine maiden.