Japan, Nishinomiya. New year's day. People crowded around temizuya, purification basin, using wooden dippers to purify themselves before visiting the shine. Very busy, packed with people.
Nishinomiya, Japan. 1 January 2018. After a lull in numbers from around 3am this morning, the pace again picked up at the Nishinomiya shrine where thousands of Japanese poured in all day to conduct the traditional Hatsumode, first visit of the new year. The shrine, one of the most important Shinto shrines in Japan caters for the Nishinomiya/Osaka area and is very popular. PPeople clustering around the purification basin to cleanse themselves before visiting the main hall of the shrine. A fire will burn for three days and all the previous year's good luck charms will be thrown into it before people buy new ones for the coming year. The weather stayed nice, with temperatures around 6-8c, but in the afternoon it begun to get windy. Credit-Malcolm Fairman/Alamy Live News.
Size: 5472px × 3648px
Location: Nishinomiya Shrine, Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture, Japan
Photo credit: © Malcolm Fairman / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: basin, busy, chozubachi, chozuya, cleaning, crowded, day, dippers, fountain, hatsumode, japan, japanese, ladles, nishinomiya, ostogatsu, packed, people, purification, purifying, shinto, shogatsu, shrine, temizuya, washing, water, wooden, year, years
