A Freezing Japanese Shinto Purification Ritual

At Tokyo's Kanda Myojin Shrine, Shinto Ritual Participants Cleanse Themselves With Freezing Cold Water in early January.

The ritual is known as misogi.

http://samuraidave.wordpress.com/2007/01/19/warm-weather-makes-japanese-wintr...

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• japan
• tokyo
• shinto
• shrine
• kanda
• purification
• ritual
• misogi

[rlcx]

its call missogi i think =P

[RoninDave]

yep - but I call it freakin' cold!

[StephenChin1]

For the last 30 years in Eastern Canada, I have daily thrown 10 buckets of tap water over myself. The best months are December to March when the water is at freezing point. Thrown on the head, it is a cold orgasm. I have not 'caught a cold' for 30 years. Wish I had done it earlier. I shall be 80 in a couple of weeks.

[blueeyes2387]

Very dedicated to their religion. Not many people in America would do this for theirs..

[guitarspectre]

SINERGY

[nidodeproteccion]

@blueeyes2387 yea.. fuck that shit

[UrbaniteLN14]

O__O I'd love to try a purification ritual but I'd have to try sometime during a blazing hot summer if I want to put freezing cold water on myself.

[AnarchistInTheUK]

congrats you've just discovered nihilism =]

[enerumu]

no family is normal cuz it just depends on how were you raised , for me, running barefoot in the snow is crazy but for other ppl isnt

[Kortoso]

Nothing wrong with a little ritual mortification.

[Artilas]

My family has a tradition where on the first good snow you run around the outside of your house barefooted. And we're a normal, everyday American family, but I don't think this is something normal families do.. (Our family tradition is that you can't catch a cold the whole year if you do it, and it normally works! Weird.)