Some reports blamed obstacles to Japan’s COVID-19 response on this concept, which allegedly stigmatizes both healthcare workers exposed to illness and people recovering from it. For 10 points each:
[10h] Name this Shinto concept of spiritual pollution that grows through contact with physical pollution. This concept is the target of purification rituals like misogi.
ANSWER: kegare
[10m] Shrine attendants can ritually purify visitors with an onusa, a staff topped with this material. Objects called shide made of this material hang from ropes that define sacred spaces or mark trees where kodama live.
ANSWER: paper [or washi]
[10e] Sprinkling this substance on the ground, as referees do before sumo matches, also purifies kegare. In Matthew Chapter 5, Verse 13, Jesus calls his followers this substance “of the earth.”
ANSWER: salt [accept sodium chloride or NaCl]
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