Misogi - Water Purification
The practice of purifying body and spirit through ritual immersion in water.
Misogi is the powerful practice of purification through water, following Izanagi's example after his descent to Yomi. Standing beneath waterfalls or immersing in sacred waters, practitioners cleanse both physical and spiritual impurities, renewing their connection to the kami.
As Izanagi cleansed himself in the waters, so do we wash away impurity and be reborn.
Misogi represents the fundamental Shinto understanding that water carries divine cleansing power.
Kojiki
Written about in
- What Shinto says about starting again after a fall
The model is Izanagi washing in water after his descent to Yomi, the land of the dead. Amaterasu is born out of that washing — Shinto's central deity is a byproduct of someone cleaning himself up after the worst episode of his life.