TsukuBlog A Local Perspective on Life in Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan.

For the Winter Solstice – Yuzu Baths, Pumpkin, Konyaku and Walking on Fire (revisited)

Up here in the northern hemisphere, we have been watching our daylight hours grow shorter and shorter by the day. It can be startling to leave work at the usual time and find ourselves immersed in complete darkness where just a few weeks ago it was perfectly bright. For the ancients, this gradual waning of  daytime was the cause of great apprehension, and a wide assortment of rituals and ceremonies (including human sacrifice!) were conceived of and performed by various peoples around the world to make sure that the sun didn’t continue to weaken and ultimately disappear altogether.

Next Tuesday, December 22nd, is the Winter Solistice, which will be the shortest day and longest night of the year for us northern dwellers. And though now most of us have no fear of the sun continuing to fade away, the lack of sunlight and knowledge that its going to get colder and colder from now can be quite depressing.

The Japanese have several  customs for the To-ji (冬至), as they call the winter solstice, which remain popular to this day. Not being religious rituals these customs have developed with the intention of fortifying the body for the cold weather to come and also of adding color and fun to these darkest and gloomiest of days.

The most commonly practiced custom for the winter solistice is putting YUZU　(柚子), a type of citrus fruit, in the bath. This is called YUZUYU (柚子湯). The yuzu is the hardiest and most cold resistant citrus fruit, and thus represents human resistance to winter’s harsh chill. Its aroma, which fills the steamy bathroom when the fruits are placed in the bath, is believed to be therapeutic, and certainly makes for an invigorating (and fun!) change of pace from your everyday bath.

If you go to a hot spring or public bath on the solistice day you will SURELY find lots of YUZU floating in the water!

If you would like to try a yuzu bath for yourself, the best way to get the fruit in Tsukuba is by asking a farmer. They usually have many more yuzu than they can use. Of course they are available at shops, as well. You might want to rinse these citrus fruit with hot or boiling water before you put them in your bath, as they can cause itchiness for some people.

There are also certain foods which are customarily eaten on the to-ji. In Ibaraki, it is common to have pumpkin (kabocha), the vegetable which can be preserved longest (symbolizing hardiness for winter) and konyaku, a kind of rubbery jelly made from a tuber, which is believed to cleanse the digestive system of any grit or grime, giving the body a big end of the year cleaning. Eating konyaku on the solistice day is mentioned in Nagatsuka Takashi’s novel TSUCHI, which is set in early modern Ibaraki (the author’s thatched roof house is a 20 minute drive from Tsukuba University).

Also, throughout Japan, some people still eat TO-JI GAYU, rice gruel with azuki beans, whose red color is believed to have the power to exorcize evil and bad luck.

For those with some free time on the 22nd, I would recommend driving up to Mt. Kaba in Makabe (about a 30 drive from central Tsukuba), where a unique fire-walking ritual will be held in an effort to energize winter’s weakening sun, so that it can grow strong again and give us more daylight. Walking through the fire will also protect you from sickness and bad luck (so they say!).　This will take place from 1 to 2 pm at the Saenazumi Jinja Hongu Shrine (加波山三枝祇神社) on Mt Kaba.

For more info see A. Takahashi’s amazingly detailed Traditional Events In and Around Tsukuba.

A yuzu bath, some kabocha, konyaku and a little walk through the fire should  brighten up the darkest day of the year for you. And there is also the encouraging knowledge that though the coldest days of winter are still to come, the daylight hours will be growing  longer and longer after the to-ji!

I have written in more detail about the fire walking event at Kabasan at:

http://blog.alientimes.org/2008/12/a-fine-day-for-fire-walking/

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