This was the morning for our misogi, also called takigyo. This is a is a Japanese Shinto ritual to purify the body and mind. The ritual itself has many steps, including washing your body in cold, purifying water – commonly under a waterfall, which we were aiming to do.
The group woke early, ready to leave for 6am. It included two notorious non-early risers, Amy and Gary. Gary was not originally down for this part of our trip but he had been slightly peer-pressured into it the night before, though actually he had a desire to do it but hadn’t been ready to commit to the start time or the cold water before arriving in Japan. The plan was to travel by bus to Nanzenji and find Kōtoku-an – a sub-shrine of Nanzenji, to the deity Fudō Myō-ō (不動明王) next to the waterfall. Fudō Myō-ō, one of the five wisdom kings, is an important deity, particularly in Shingon Buddhism, and the Yamabushi (warrior monks) prayed to him for purification, hence he’s usually found near waterfalls for misogi.
We arrived at Nanzenji and had a short walk up a narrow path and small hillside into a forest area to the shrine, and thus waterfall. However, much to Gary and Amy’s disappointment there was no water at the waterfall! This, we found out, was due to the super typhoon that hit Japan the previous year. Many fallen trees and large rocks could be seen at the top of the waterfall. It seemed someone thought we weren’t ready to be purified.
Without the ability to do the misogi, we had what still turned out to be one of the best parts of the trip (there were many mind) for those involved. It started with a look around the surrounding area of the shrine, before on Sensei Pyrce’s suggestion the group came together and did part of the ritual and something that will be familiar to many aikidoka. The group practised tori-fune, eventually warming up to a level where the area around the temple would be aware of our presence – possibly disturbing some of the peace.
Sensei Pryce then lead the group on a mini-trek up past the waterfall, eventually reaching shichifuku shiandokoro 七福思案処 – literally meaning the “seven fortune thinking place” – where we sat and had a quiet few minutes. This was a moving time and place for the group, where we were able to contemplate whatever was on our minds and hopefully pick a path to go down.
Following this, Sensei Pryce lead us back down to the main temple, telling us more about the history of the temple and the surrounding area, also taking time to talk aikido on the way. At the bottom he pointed out some influence of British engineering with the aqueduct and arches there. At the bottom we sat to listen to Sensei tell us about more about Nanzenji and we shared a drink of either coffee or a lovely apple and cinnamon tea – the tea seemed just the right drink on such a peaceful morning. It was marvellous really that we had done all of this and were able to sit at this special temple while it was so still quiet and without visitors. It was a truly peaceful and serene moment.
