Kasezue

...The practice of using a kayuzue (rice gruel stick) on the night of Little New Year, known from The Pillow Book, is based on the same belief, as is the practice of fortune-telling with a stick at a crossroads, where fortune-telling is done by the direction in which the stick falls. As seen in the statue of Kuya at Rokuharamitsu-ji Temple, saints who often traveled around the country and interacted with the people carried a deer antler stick called a wasazuno, which was also called a kasezue. The sticks held by religious figures have spiritual powers, and there are many legends in various places, such as the legend of Kobo Shimizu, in which pure water springs forth from the stick, and the legend of the stick growing into a tree. ...

*Some of the terminology explanations that mention "kasezue" are listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…小正月の夜の粥杖（かゆづえ）は《枕草子》で知られているが，これも同様の信仰によるものであり，また辻で杖の倒れた方向で占う杖占（つえうら）も同じ心意によるものである。六波羅蜜寺の空也（くうや）像にみられるように，民衆と接し各地を遊行することの多い聖（ひじり）たちは〈わさづの〉という鹿の角の杖をもち，その杖は〈かせづえ〉とも呼ばれた。宗教家の手にする杖は霊力をもち，その杖により清水が湧いたという弘法清水（こうぼうしみず）の伝説や，その杖が成長して樹となったとする伝説は各地に多い。…

※「かせづえ」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報