People standing under a waterfall in Kamiichi, Toyama Prefecture, on Jan 19. - The Yomiuri Shimbun/The Japan News
TOKYO: People prayed for good health while they stood under a waterfall at the foot of the Tateyama mountain range in Kamiichi, Toyama Prefecture, on Tuesday (Jan 19), the first day of Daikan, the coldest period of year.
At around 8:30am, when the air temperature was minus 1 deg C and the water temperature was 3 deg C, about 50 men and women dressed in white robes and hachimaki headbands took turns standing underneath the six-metre-high waterfall, located behind the main hall of Oiwasan Nissekiji temple.
The people prayed for health and prosperity as they shivered amid the snow.
“I want to try new things this year,” said a 28-year-old company employee from Asahi in the prefecture. - The Japan News/ANN
