For at least 300 years, lotteries in Japan have been the stuff of dreams -- and nightmares. This is most evident in the stories about tomikuji (fortune lotto), a lottery that flourished in the Edo Period (1603-1867). These tales are found in the repertoire of rakugo comic monologues.

Although these stories are set in the Edo Period, it is believed that the origin of tomikuji dates back to the preceding Muromachi Period (1338-1573). However, it was only in 1730, during the Tokugawa Shogunate, that the lottery system first met with government approval. Temples and shrines were permitted to run lotteries, and use the profits to maintain their properties.

Back then, the average price of one tomifuda (a single lottery ticket) is believed to have been the equivalent of about 1 yen,500-2,500 yen today. Winners picked up between 15,000 yen and 6 million yen in current values.