How to Prepare Shugi-bukuro (Japanese Traditional Money Envelope for Wedding)
The longer you live a life, the more events you encounter such as weddings. Japanese have different customs for celebration so you may better know how to prepare shugi-bukuro. ‘What the earth is that?’? Let’s start with what this is about.
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How to Prepare Shugi-bukuro
Goshugi (ご祝儀) is money given as a gift mainly for wedding in Japan which is in an envelope called shugi-bukuro (祝儀袋).
How Much Should Goshugi Be?
You may be thinking ‘so how much should goshugi be?’. To answer this, it basically depends on a relationship between you and the person but here is some reference for wedding.
| Friends | 30,000 – 50,000 yen | |
| Work Related | Boss | 30,000 – 50,000 yen |
| Colleague | About 30,000 yen | |
| Junior | 20,000 – 30,000 yen | |
| Client | About 30,000 yen | |
| Relatives | 30,000 – 100,000 yen | |
| Family | 20,000 – 100,000 yen | |
Did You Know? (Numbers to Avoid)
Be aware that in Japan there are numbers that should be avoided for the goshugi.
- Odd numbers (any number that can be ‘split’ should be avoided {just a jinx}. However, 2 and 8 are OK since they could mean positive)
- Four and nine (four refers to death and nine refers to suffer).
So 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, and 10 can be used.
Preparation for Shugi-bukuro
First of all, you need to select a right envelope. Aside from for wedding, there are varieties of envelopes for different events. Envelopes with an upside-down-red-and-white ribbons are usually used for shugi-bukuro (red & white are lucky colors in Japan). There are different versions depending on the amount of money you give but this one (below) would be standard. Your name should be written (make it a little smaller than the ‘寿’ character on top). It’s available at convenience stores, 100 yen shops, book stores, pretty much everywhere.
The shugi-bukuro comes with another envelope inside. Write down an amount of money you put in the front and your address & name in the back like below.
The amount should be written in kanji like ‘金 xxxxx 圓’ but no worries, refer to the table below. So the number written above (参萬圓) make it 3 man yen (30,000 yen). No problem in Arabic as well if you are not Japanese.
| Numbers | Numbers in Kanji |
| 1 | 壱 |
| 2 | 弐 |
| 3 | 参 |
| 5 | 伍 or 五 |
| 7 | 七 |
| 8 | 八 |
| 10 | 拾 |
| Man | 萬 |
| Yen | 圓 or 円 |
Now put the envelope with money in shugi-bukuro and close it. Fold the upper part in first so the lower part faces up (another jinx).
As a manner, shugi-bukuro should be covered by a cloth called fukusa to protect it from dirt etc until given at the wedding reception. You could use a regular handkerchief instead as well. Here is a reference how to fold fukusa below. (It shouldn’t be a big deal since you give only the shugi-bukuro.)
Alright, that’s all.
Lastly
How do you find it? Hope it helps.
See you around!
