Left it at home: ask for a loose sheet
If you arrive and find the book is not with you, almost everywhere will offer a kakioki, a goshuin written in advance on a single sheet of washi that you take home and mount in your own book.
Asking whether a written sheet is available is enough; the situation is entirely familiar. Some places do not keep them, and where that is so, let it go. Do not ask for the goshuin to be written on a piece of paper or in a notebook you happen to have.
Getting the sheet home intact
- Do not fold it. A crease stays. Carry it flat in a clear file or between the pages of a book
- Keep it dry. Ink and seal paste run, and they do not come back
- Note the date the same day. On a loose sheet there is nothing to tell you later when you visited
Mounting is covered in mounting a kakioki sheet, and keeping sheets unmounted in filing without glue.
Wet: how you dry it decides the damage
Caught in rain, or a drink went over. The difference between handling it well and badly is enormous. Act quickly and correctly.
| Step | Do | Do not |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Open it at once and shed the water | Leave it closed |
| 2 | Press with a dry cloth to lift moisture | Rub or wipe |
| 3 | Stand the concertina up so air moves through | Point a hot hairdryer at it |
| 4 | Dry slowly in the shade | Put it in direct sun |
| 5 | Once dry, weight it flat | Weight it while still damp |
Rubbing spreads the ink. Press and lift, nothing more. Hot air cockles the paper; direct sun fades ink and vermilion alike.
Paper that has dried wavy may no longer close flat. Left under a weight for a few days once thoroughly dry it comes back. A short stack of books does the job.
A page skipped, or the order broken
A page was left blank, a sheet went on the wrong leaf, the sequence no longer matches your visits. None of it needs fixing.
A concertina is one sheet: pages cannot be removed or reordered. Trying to lift something off tears the paper and damages the whole book. The blank page fills itself at your next visit.
Order is dealt with fully in which page to start from, and the point is short. A broken sequence takes nothing away from the book. Pencil the date in a corner and the chronology stays recoverable.
Lost or left behind
Call the last place you opened it. Books get left on counters constantly, and offices very often have them.
- Ring the shrine or temple office
- Report it to lost property at the station or bus operator you used
- Check any cafe or rest house you stopped at
If it does not come back, the same goshuin cannot simply be rewritten. It records a visit made on a particular day. You start a new book and carry on from there.
Marked or torn
On a soiled cover, a light brush with a dry cloth is as far as you should go. Water stains fabric covers and raises the nap on paper ones.
Where a fold has split, tape it from the reverse with washi tape and it will hold in use. Never from the front, where it would cross the brushwork. Repair washi tape sold for the purpose is thin and reads as almost invisible.
Past a certain point, moving to a new book is the sensible call rather than nursing this one along. What to do with a finished book is in when the book is full; reducing everyday wear is in storing your goshuin book.
Read next
Practice around goshuin and the books that hold them differs between shrines, temples and Buddhist schools. What follows is general orientation, not a rule. Notices posted on site and the guidance of the office there always take precedence. Nichiren-shu temples inscribe a goshuimon, and some will not write it into a book that already holds entries from elsewhere.
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Frequently asked questions
I forgot my goshuin book. What can I do?
Almost everywhere will offer a kakioki, a goshuin written in advance on a single sheet of washi that you take home and mount in your own book. Some places do not keep them, and where that is so, let it go. Do not ask for it to be written in a notebook you happen to have.
My goshuin book got wet. How should I dry it?
Open it at once, press with a dry cloth to lift the moisture, and never rub. Stand the concertina up so air moves through and let it dry slowly in the shade. Avoid hot hairdryers and direct sun. If it dries wavy, a few days under a weight brings it flat.
A page was skipped. Can that be corrected?
It does not need correcting. A concertina is one continuous sheet, so pages cannot be removed or reordered, and trying tears the paper. The blank page fills itself at your next visit.
I lost my book. Can the same goshuin be rewritten?
Not as a rule, because a goshuin records a visit made on a particular day. Ring the last place you opened it first, since books are very often handed in at the office. If it does not come back, you start a new book and carry on.
A fold in the concertina has split. Can I repair it?
Tape it from the reverse with washi tape and it holds in use. Never tape from the front, where it would cross the brushwork. Repair washi tape sold for the purpose is thin enough to be almost invisible.