Gohei

The streamers are usually white, although they can also be gold, silver, jade, or a mixture of several colors, and are often attached as decorations to straw ropes (shimenawa) used to mark sacred precincts.

The shrine priest or attendants (miko) use the gohei to bless or sanctify a person or object in various Shinto rituals.

In addition to its use in purification rituals, it may be included in an ōnusa (wooden wand with many shide), and serve as the object of veneration (shintai) in a Shinto shrine.

A type of food called Goheimochi is thought to have been named after the staff.

[1] The characters Reimu Hakurei and Sanae Kochiya from Touhou Project wield gohei.