A type of fortune-telling using Chinese séance techniques, read as "furan" or "fukei". A tray filled with sand called a "saban" [It could potentially be a board made of sand, the wording's pretty vague] has a T- or Y-shaped willow branch called a "pointing brush" placed on top of it, and the characters and symbols spelled out on the board are used to obtain messages from the gods and spirits. As a casual form of divination for the masses, it became very popular during the Ming and Qing dynasties, and many secret societies were founded as a result.
Although "Furan" is similar to the Japanese "Mr. Kokkuri" and the overseas "Ouija board", it has a long history and can be traced back to the belief in the deity Shiko [Lit. Purple mother-in-law. Take this with a grain of salt as the characters most likely have different meanings in China], which originated around the 7th century.
The deity Shiko is a Chinese restroom goddess, a brilliant woman murdered by her husband's first wife due to jealousy who then became revered as a god, and the origin behind the famous school ghost story featuring a figure clad in a purple kimono appearing in the school toilets.
The belief in Furan, especially its ability to grant wishes and give appropriate advice for the recovery of the sick, is still alive and well in China and Taiwan, although not to the same extent as during the Qing and Ming dynasties.
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