An offering is money that you will pay to gods or Buddha for fulfillment of your wish. In olden times, Japanese dedicated more valuable stuff like rice, gold and silver instead, but as the money economy developed, money replaced them.

In the Muromachi period, a box was placed at Shizuoka Hachimangu Shrine so that offerings would not litter the ground. This box is said to be the origin of the offering box.

After that, in the Edo period, as the trip to the Ise Shrine got more popular, offering boxes spread across Japan and developed into this present style.

A common offering box has wooden frames on its upside. But there are some strange-shaped boxes such as the one with 19 slits in Fukagawa-Enmado,or the money-pouch box in Hetsunomiya of Enoshima Shrine.