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Jinguji Omizuokuri

Little knownBarely documented in English. This is the kind of place the site exists for.

調査・執筆 Hinato

OmizuokuriJingujiObamafire ritualTodaiji

Photo: 663highland / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.5) · original

Every 12 March, water is drawn from a well at Todaiji in Nara in the ceremony called Omizutori. The belief is that the water arrives there through the ground from Wakasa, and on 2 March, ten days earlier, the temple of Jinguji outside Obama sends it — a rite called Omizuokuri, the water sending.

What happens is this: an archery rite in the temple grounds, water drawn from the akaido well, then a procession of white-robed mountain ascetics carrying an enormous pine torch, followed by hundreds of hand torches, walking two kilometres in the dark to a pool in the Onyu river called Unose. There the water is poured into the river. Jinguji itself is worth the visit on any other day too — an unusual syncretic temple where a torii stands in front of a Buddhist hall, in a quiet valley with no ticket office.

基本情報

営業時間

Temple visitable during daylight hours | Omizuokuri held on the evening of 2 March

定休日: Confirm temple hours locally

料金

Watching the rite is free | Hand torches by advance reservation | Temple admission — confirm locally

ベストシーズン

2 March for the Omizuokuri rite | Year-round for the temple

滞在目安

45 minutes for the temple | A full evening for the rite

アクセス

アクセス情報

Jinguji, Obama. Car recommended; a short drive from central Obama. The Omizuokuri rite is held on 2 March each year, in the evening, with the torch procession running about 2 km from the temple to Unose. Hand torches for participants are available by advance reservation through Obama city. The temple can be visited on ordinary days; confirm hours and admission locally.

インサイダーガイド

**2 March, in the evening, and it is dark and cold.** The procession runs after nightfall in early March in a snow region. Dress for standing outside for hours. **Hand torches are pre-booked.** Carrying one in the procession requires a reservation through the city in advance. Watching is free. **Two kilometres of torches.** The route runs from the temple to the Unose pool on the Onyu river, and the line of several hundred torches through the dark is the image people come for. **Visit on an ordinary day as well.** Jinguji is a syncretic site with a torii in front of the main hall and a well that has fed a Nara ritual for over a millennium. It is quiet, wooded and almost unvisited outside the festival. **Todaiji draws it on 12 March.** If you are travelling on to Nara, seeing both ends of the same ritual ten days apart is a rare thing to be able to do.

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