Kanchu Misogi

Misogi is a practice of ritual purification often celebrated at the beginning of the New Year. One of the various methods is purification through water. Normally standing under a waterfall this has been symbolically transformed into a custom where men and women plash themselves with baskets of water taken out of a pool. In Tokyo there were this year to locations to observe which I will cover in two posts. This post is about the ceremony held at the Kanda Shrine.

So this pool will be the place of action at temperatures around 5 degrees celsius on January 11 2014. Men and women enter have to undergo several ritual before the enter the pool. The first enter the temple district for some prayers.

The dress code is simple. Women wear a special kimono and men put on a fundoshi, a simple loin cloth, both wear a head band.The priest first adresses the spirits of the temple.
Special to the Kanda Shrine is that it is also dedicated to one of the seven gods of luck, the Daikoku. His Shinto name is O-Kuni-Nushi-no-Mikoto, or Divine Master of the Great Land and is a great luck-bringer (the god of wealth).He has a sack of precious things on his back and holds a hammer (a mallet of good luck) in his right hand.He was waiting on the sidelines and then joined with his fellow to bring good luck to the brave men and women.

The ceremony continued with reading out a rather long prayer.

Now the group enters the arena in front of the pool.

Here they form a circle and perform various exercises which have a spiritual meaning but serve at the same time as an exercise to prepare for the splash in the ice cold water.The first picture shows the furitama (降り魂) or “spirit shaking” by clenching their hands in front of the stomach and shaking them up and down, vibrating the upper torso. The purpose of this is to become aware of/unified with the spirit’s presence within. Following this is a “warm-up” or calisthenics (tori-fune 鳥船 or “bird boat” rowing). These practices were accompanied by special prayers or incantations. After, the leader begins to speak out invocations/prayers that are said to activate the spirit. The followers generally speak along with them, thus affirming the potential for realizing one’s own spirit, and thus unifying them with the kami around them.

This was followed by some breathing exercises.

Furthermore the leader counts to nine and then cuts the air while shouting the word “yei!” to dispel the impurity. He does this with the right hand raised, fingers stretched and the pulling down the arm to the ground. Later on we will see this exercise done every time a group enters the pool.

Finally the action starts.

It is a lot of fun but the water is cold. After getting out they line up for a second and third round. Before entering the all perform the exercise of pointing with their fingers to the ground.

The master of ceremony looks on and gives the appropiate instructions.

During the whole ceremony court music is played. During the exercises the MC chants the phrase “harae-tamae-Kiyome-tamae-ro-kon-sho-jo!” which is repeated by the group. This phrase asks the kami to wash away the impurity from the six elements that make up the human being, the five senses and the mind.But let us get some more impressions from a few more round as participants look increasingly freezing.

To conclude the group is summoned again for some final exercise. And of course to group photo.

Special thanks has to be given to the musicians who played during the whole hour. They look as their contribution has not been given enough attention.