ABSTRACT
After Izanaki had visited his deceased wife Izanami in the ‘Land of Darkness’, he returned to the ‘Land of the Middle’ where he washed off the impurity (kegare) from that land of death at ‘a small river mouth’ in Himuka in Kyushu. The removing of pollution with the help of water is called misogi. The Kojiki and the Nihon shoki tell us that during his misogi, Izanaki first produced ‘deities of evil’ (magatsu-hi no kami), and next ‘deities to rectify evil’ (naobi no kami); as the final stage of his purification, the ‘three most august children’ of Izanaki (Amaterasu, Tsukiyomi and Susanowo) were born when he washed his right eye, his left eye, and his nose.31 This legend explains why most shrine precincts include a clear stream. During the ancient period misogi was performed before rituals, and kami were invited to descend to a ritual site only after all present had rinsed their bodies of all pollution. The Great Kings of Yamato, too, performed misogi as part of their enthronement ceremonies. The modern practice of washing one’s hands and rinsing one’s mouth before entering shrine grounds can be said to be a remnant of this ancient rite of performing misogi before rituals. The custom of setting up a basin with running water especially for this purpose at shrine entrances (temizuya, cho¯zuya) is relatively recent, however; the first such basin was put up at the To¯sho¯gu¯ shrine in Nikko¯, founded in 1636.
