It is considered that charms were originally used in China that were subsequently brought to Japan and while much of the history of charms in Japan still remains unexplained, some items such as jufu mokkan with inscription of a magic word 'kyukyunyoritsuryo' were excavated from the ruins of Fujiwara-kyo long ago, suggesting that they were already in use in the Nara Period.
元来中国で用いられていたものが伝来したものと考えられるが、我国における護符の歴史は未だ解明されていない部分が多く、古くは藤原京跡などから「急々如律令」の呪句を書き付けた呪符木簡等が出土しており、奈良時代にはすでに活用されていたらしい。