TOKYO – Men wearing traditional cloaks and women in white clothes applauded and chanted before entering an ice-water bath during a Shinto ritual at an altar in Tokyo on Sunday to purify the soul and pray for end of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Only a dozen people attended the annual event in Teppou-zu Inari Shrine, which was reduced this year due to the health crisis, compared to more than a hundred in early 2020. Spectators were not allowed to attend the event.
After doing warm-up exercises and chanting under a clear sky with outside temperatures at 41.18 Fahrenheit, the nine participating men and three women entered a bathroom full of cold water and large blocks of ice. “I prayed that the coronavirus would end as soon as possible,” said Shinji Ooi, a 65-year-old participant who leads the altar’s “Yayoikai” parishioner group after the ritual.
Japan has struggled to contain a recent rise in coronavirus infections, with Tokyo reporting 1,494 new cases on Sunday. The government on Thursday declared a state of emergency limited to Tokyo and three neighboring prefectures, covering about 30% of the country’s population, in an attempt to stop the spread.
Fewer participants in the Shinto ritual made the water colder, participant Naoaki Yamaguchi told Reuters.
“Normally, we have more participants and it makes the water temperature a little warmer. But this year, there were only twelve people, so (the cold) was crazy “, said the 47-year-old.
The altar added the theme of “avoiding epidemics” to the annual event, which takes place on the second Sunday of each year and is now in its 66th year.