Bathers run outside Teppozu Inari Shinto Shrine before dipping into a tub of cold water with blocks of ice during a winter ritual at the shrine in Tokyo on Sunday. More than 100 people gathered for the mid-winter event to pray for a healthy new year.
© Japan Today
Cold run
©2023 GPlusMedia Inc.
11 Comments
Login to comment
nath
Those nappies are fundoshi ie traditional underwear. Quiet comfy actually.
Holding an cold endurance festival in summer, I miss something here. New year dipping into cold rivers /seas is also widespread overseas.
funkyboy
I thought the Japanese people are basically not religious (無宗教) but I see this is not true. Still Japan is a very religious nation.
HongoTAFEinmate
Did something similar years ago up in the north of Honshu. In our case, however, it was a slow-moving procession down the streets of Morioka. I seem to remember that I lost all feeling in the extremities after about 5 minutes. The bath afterwards was great. Looking back, I suppose the sense of euphoria and fatigue were initial symptoms of hypothermia. Once was enough, thank you very much.
paulinusa
Ice cold water causes major shrinkage.
Scrote
It would be more sensible to hold these pants matsuris in summer, rather than risking pneumonia.
CrazyJoe
I like those nappy-like pants.
sensei258
Maybe you mean "It's more than I can bare" LOL
Chuichi Hashimura
It is more than I can bear!
sensei258
It's cold enough without being naked in a pool of ice water. I hope they had an ambulance standing by in case...
Speed
I think most of these guys should pray for nicer bodies and less man-boobage. That would be "healthy" There's one near the back with a nice body though.
Elbuda Mexicano
These guys look really "cool" or just COLD??