JAPAN: Japanese hope to purify their souls and sharpen their minds with ice baths in the New Year

Record ID: 462903

  • Title: JAPAN: Japanese hope to purify their souls and sharpen their minds with ice baths in the New Year
  • Date: 19th January 2007
  • Summary: (L!WE) TOKYO, JAPAN (JANUARY 13, 2007) (REUTERS) WIDE OF KANDA MYOJIN SHRINE BATHERS RUNNING TOWARDS SHRINE DRESSED ONLY IN SHORTS OR THIN KIMONO BATHERS OFFERING PRAYERS AT SHRINE MORE OF BATHERS OFFERING PRAYERS AT SHRINE SHINTO PRIEST BLESSING BATHERS BATHER SHIVERING LARGE BLOCK OF ICE IN POOL (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) SHINTO PRIEST OF KANDAMYOJIN SHRINE SAYING: This shrine ritual removes the impurities in a person" VARIOUS OF BATHERS GETTING INTO ICY POOL AND SPLASHING WATER OVER THEMSELVES BATHER SHIVERING GIRL GETTING INTO ICY POOL AND SPLASHING WATER OVER HERSELF CHILD LOOKING CHILD VARIOUS OF BATHERS GETTING INTO ICY POOL AND SPLASHING WATER OVER THEMSELVES (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) YUKARI SUGAWARA, 20-YEAR-OLD STUDENT SAYING: "In order to become a nurse, I have taken part in this ritual so it will purify my mind" (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) JUN OGURA 22-YEAR-OLD STUDENT SAYING: "It is the warmest winter over the last three years. But the water is still so cold. I can't breathe." KIDS PUTTING HANDS INTO ICY WATER
  • Embargoed: 3rd February 2007 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Japan
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVA8JUEDJ8C9G4OJV3DEPUSTRCJP
  • Story Text: Japanese hope to purify their souls and sharpen their minds with ice baths in the New Year.

    A group of young Japanese are celebrating the New Year and their new role as adults with a purification rite which involves plunging themselves into ice-cold waters in Tokyo. Turning 20-years-old in Japan is a milestone event as one is legally able to drink and vote after that. But for some people in Tokyo, becoming an adult means taking a bath of in ice water. Bathing in cold water, or standing under waterfalls is a traditional Shinto purification rite. After prayers at the shrine, the participants jogged around the shrine grounds before stepping into a pool of ice water and splashing ice water over themselves. "This shrine ritual removes the impurities in a person," said Kandamyojin, a Shinto Priest. At the Kanda Myojin shrine in Tokyo, the soul-cleansing Shinto rite was combined with a coming-of-age ceremony for an experience participants would not forget. "In order to become a nurse, I have taken part in this ritual so it will purify my mind," said 20-year-old student Yukari Sugawara. "It is the warmest winter over the last three years. But the water is still so cold. I can't breathe," said 22-year-old University student Jun Ogura. The event has been held every year since 1988 at this time, one week after the coming-of-age day, set on the second Sunday of January (January 10). There are some participants who turn up in their bathing suits every year saying it brings them luck. ENDS
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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