Shinto priest Masatsugu Okutani, 41 dresses into his ceremonial clothes in preparation for the Summer Grand Purification ceremony to be held at the Yabuhara Sanctuary, with the help of two of his Shinto priest colleagues, Kageji Toyama and Kiyoto Suyama from neighbouring villages. The essence of the ceremony is to remove temporarily all impurities such as rational thought from ones body and mind and maximize ones sensitivities. In other words to be in a state of heightened concentration of the here and now and allow ones sensitivities to be replenished as they are a constant source of japanese cultural identity, Kiso Mura village.
Add to Cart Add to Lightbox Download