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Kazakhstan’s Minister of Communications and Informatics has blocked the Tumblr site because it contained 60 sites of terrorism, extremism, and pornography in 2015.
The wind bells have been popular recently on Instagram especially at shrines because they sound cool. They look cool, too, but I still don’t like going out in summer.
Aka-do Handwashing Stall at Buddhist Temple in Tokyo
Location: Jindai-ji Motomachi, Chofu City, Tokyo, Japan
Timestamp: 15:17 on July 19, 2023
Typical handwashing stations found at Shinto shrines (known as 手水舎/temizuya; a place for the ritual cleansing of hands and mouth with water when visiting shrines) considerably outnumber the handwashing stations commonly seen at Buddhist temples (referred to as 閼伽堂/akadou; literally translated as holy water temple).
At either of these locations, you would typically encounter rows of ladles. These ladles are used to dip into a large stone water basin and then poured over your hands, cleansing oneself before approaching the temple or shrine that houses the deity.
However, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, many handwashing stations were either deactivated or reconfigured to enable visitors to cleanse their hands without direct contact with the ladles, as depicted in the provided photo.
Based on my personal experiences, I've observed that several shrines I visited throughout 2023 are gradually returning to the traditional practice of using ladles, indicating a positive shift towards normalcy before the pandemic emerged.
Interestingly, the purification ritual at Buddhist temples may or may not include a handwashing station. However, it invariably incorporates a large covered cauldron that emits incense smoke for purification purposes. In contrast, Shinto shrines exclusively rely on handwashing stations, without employing incense smoke for purification.
For access details and references for further reading, check out the latest Pix4Japan blog post: https://www.pix4japan.com/blog/20230719-jindaiji
Fujifilm X100V with 5% diffusion filter
ISO 2500 for 1/250 sec. at ƒ/8.0
Astia Soft film simulation