Bless this house

An interesting part of Japanese culture is the blessing of land before building on it. I once witnessed a Shinto ceremony of blessing a building plot prior to a new house being built. I had never seen anything like it before. In England, a ceremony is usually held for important new public buildings whereby a VIP is invited to lay the first brick or stone. There is also an official opening ceremony whereby a VIP may cut a ribbon to "open" the building.