To da loos: Heard of the Divorce toilet?

I was reading the latest issue of marie claire magazine and came

across a really interesting little story:

Japanese women used to travel to Mantokuji temple known as "the divorce temple", an ancient Buddhist temple in Japan to seek refuge from a bad marriage as only men were legally allowed to divorce. Originally, women would go to live in the temple convents and more recently (up until the divorce laws changed) unhappily married women would do a pilgrimage to the temple to write on a piece of paper that they wanted to end their marriage and would flush it down the toilet in hopes that the deity of the toilet - Kawaya No Kami would answer their prayers. btw, there are only two "divorce temples" in
Japan and in the whole world.

So did Kawaya No Kami lose her job when the divorce laws changed?

Nope, check out what they did next. This is one smart toilet deity....

People are praying to Kawaya No Kami for other reasons. Here`s what some

people have been praying for:

- to overcome obesity

- for the economy to improve

- to help their career

- to have a happy marriage

There are two different color toilets: the black toilet and the white toilet. Here`s how

Tadashi Takagi, the temple museum director explained it:

There are two traditional squat toilets in the temple - the white toilet is used for the

"enkiri" i.e - to cut ties, while the black toilet is for the "enmusubi", i.e. to

strengthen or tightening ties.

So if you wanted to stop craving sweets or you want George Clooney to break up

with Stacy Keibler for you, you would write your message and flush it down the white toilet. If you wanted to increase your chances of winning the lottery or wanting George Clooney to fall in love with you then you`d throw your wishes down the black toilet. So for the George situation, I guess you would have to throw a paper down the white toilet then flush another down the black toilet. That`s my take on it, Takagi didn`t mention George Clooney, however, I do think Takagi should send some brochures to Hollywood.

"So the idea today is that people get rid of the bad things in their life and become happy."

Takagi pointed out that the ritual revolved around the power of the

"kawaya no kami" toilet deity to cure illnesses and help in childbirth.

He said: "There [have been] people who take it for a real lavatory and actually use it.

"But since we have put a sign indicating that the toilets are for praying, almost

nobody makes that mistake anymore." Hilarious. Wonder if he has heard of

Hankey, the Christmas Poo.