An ofuda serves a similar purpose to an omamori but is built to be displayed rather than carried on the body, a larger paper, wood or metal strip inscribed with a shrine's name or a specific kami's name, meant to be placed on a household kamidana or above a doorway rather than tucked into a pocket or bag.
Preparation and installation
Shrine priests prepare and bless ofuda, some hand brushed in calligraphy for higher status commissions, most printed for the volume a popular shrine distributes, and a household member installs the finished ofuda on their own kamidana rather than requiring a priest to visit and place it.
Annual replacement and the New Year fires
Like an omamori, an ofuda is generally renewed yearly rather than kept indefinitely, and the old one is returned to a shrine for ritual burning, commonly at a dedicated fire ceremony held around mid January, dontoyaki or sagicho, where the previous year's ofuda, omamori and other paper talismans from the surrounding community are burned together in one bonfire rather than disposed of individually.
Two grades of the same object
A hand brushed ofuda, commissioned individually and written in ink by a priest, is treated as a higher status version of the same object as a printed one produced in volume for ordinary distribution, both are considered valid once blessed, the distinction is closer to a bespoke versus a standard edition than to a genuine versus a fake.