ghost leg lottery; ladder lottery
A random matching method where participants draw lines across a lattice of vertical lines to determine pairings or winners. Common in Japan for assigning roles or prizes.
We decided the seat change by ghost leg lottery.
Let's draw a ghost leg lottery and decide who's on cleaning duty.
阿弥陀 is the everyday shortened form of 阿弥陀くじ, the full name for the ghostleg lottery game.
Kanji spelling with 阿弥陀 (Amida Buddha); the origin is from the radial pattern resembling Amida's halo.
Rare kanji form using 籤 (lottery).
From 阿弥陀 (Amida Buddha) + くじ (lottery). The radial lines of the lattice were thought to resemble the halo of Amida Buddha statues.