Learn about chōzuya, the place where you purify yourself before entering a Japanese shrine or temple
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Naomi: なおみです。(Naomi desu.) |
| Yuichi: ゆういちです。(Yūichi desu.) |
| Peter: Peter here, Premium Lesson No. 29, Do Not Drink the Water! Naomi-sensei, it’s the last premium lesson. |
| Naomi: あ、本当？(A, hontō?) |
| Peter: 本当ですよ。(Hontō desu yo.) |
| Naomi: へー。(Hē.) |
| Peter: Let’s have Yuichi-sensei tell us about this picture. ゆういち先生、お願いします。(Yūichi-sensei, onegai shimasu.) |
| Yuichi: たくさんの人が水を汲んでいます。(Takusan no hito ga mizu o kunde imasu.) |
| Peter: So, there are a lot of people- how do we say this, Naomi-sensei, taking water? |
| Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) |
| Peter: 水を汲む (mizu o kumu) |
| Yuichi: はい。水を汲んでいます。(Hai. Mizu o kunde imasu.) |
| Peter: え、何のために汲んでいますか。(E, nan no tame ni kunde imasu ka.) So why are they taking water? |
| Yuichi: 多分これは、神社じゃないですかね。(Tabun kore wa, jinja ja nai desu ka ne.) |
| Peter: 賛成ですか。(Sansei desu ka.) |
| Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) To purify their hands and mouth. |
| Peter: Okay. So, when you go to a temple or shrine in Japan, there’s a certain process that you should go through. |
| Yuichi: Yes. |
| Peter: And we’re gonna talk about that after the conversation. Now, today’s conversation, you both are right, a mother and daughter are visiting a shrine. So, first, we’re gonna listen to the conversation in casual Japanese, then we’re gonna talk about the process of visiting a shrine. So, with that said, are you ready, Naomi-sensei? |
| Naomi: あ、はい。ごめんね。ちょっとね daydreaming してました。(A, hai. Gomen ne. Chotto ne “daydreaming” shite mashita.) |
| Peter: Okay, here we go. |
| DIALOGUE |
| A: お母さん、どうしたらいいのー。 (O-kā-san, dō shitara ii nō.) |
| B: お手てとお口をきれいにするのよ。 (O-tete to o-kuchi o kirei ni suru no yo.) |
| A: なんでー。 (Nandē.) |
| B: お参りする前は、ちゃんとお清めしないといけないの。 (O-mairi suru mae wa, chanto o-kiyome shinai to ikenai no.) |
| A: この入れ物はー？ (Kono iremono wā?) |
| B: ひしゃくって言うのよ。 (Hishaku tte iu no yo. ) |
| まず右手にひしゃくを持って、左手を清めて、 (Mazu migite ni hishaku o motte, hidarite o kiyomete,) |
| それから左手に持ち替えて、右手を清めるのよ。 (sorekara hidarite ni mochikaete, migite o kiyomeru no yo.) |
| それからお口をすすぐの。 (Sorekara o-kuchi o susugu no.) |
| A: はーい。 (Hāi.) |
| もう一度、お願いします。今度は、ゆっくりお願いします。(Mō ichi-do, onegai shimasu. Kondo wa, yukkuri onegai shimasu.) |
| A: お母さん、どうしたらいいのー。 (O-kā-san, dō shitara ii nō.) |
| B: お手てとお口をきれいにするのよ。 (O-tete to o-kuchi o kirei ni suru no yo.) |
| A: なんでー。 (Nandē.) |
| B: お参りする前は、ちゃんとお清めしないといけないの。 (O-mairi suru mae wa, chanto o-kiyome shinai to ikenai no.) |
| A: この入れ物はー？ (Kono iremono wā?) |
| B: ひしゃくって言うのよ。 (Hishaku tte iu no yo. ) |
| まず右手にひしゃくを持って、左手を清めて、 (Mazu migite ni hishaku o motte, hidarite o kiyomete,) |
| それから左手に持ち替えて、右手を清めるのよ。 (sorekara hidarite ni mochikaete, migite o kiyomeru no yo.) |
| それからお口をすすぐの。 (Sorekara o-kuchi o susugu no.) |
| A: はーい。 (Hāi.) |
| 次は、英語が入ります。(Tsugi wa, Eigo ga hairimasu.) |
| A: お母さん、どうしたらいいのー。 (O-kā-san, dō shitara ii nō.) |
| Mom, what should I do? |
| B: お手てとお口をきれいにするのよ。 (O-tete to o-kuchi o kirei ni suru no yo.) |
| We're going to wash our hands and mouths. |
| A: なんでー。 (Nandē.) |
| Whyyyyy? |
| B: お参りする前は、ちゃんとお清めしないといけないの。 (O-mairi suru mae wa, chanto o-kiyome shinai to ikenai no.) |
| Before visiting a shrine, you have to properly purify yourself. |
| A: この入れ物はー？ (Kono iremono wā?) |
| What's this doohickey? |
| B: ひしゃくって言うのよ。 (Hishaku tte iu no yo. ) |
| It's called a hishaku (ladle). |
| まず右手にひしゃくを持って、左手を清めて、 (Mazu migite ni hishaku o motte, hidarite o kiyomete,) |
| First you take it in your right hand, and you purify your left hand. |
| それから左手に持ち替えて、右手を清めるのよ。(sorekara hidarite ni mochikaete, migite o kiyomeru no yo.) |
| Then you switch it to your left hand and purify your right hand. |
| それからお口をすすぐの。 (Sorekara o-kuchi o susugu no.) |
| After that, you rinse your mouth. |
| A: はーい。 (Hāi.) |
| OK! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Peter: なおみ先生。(Naomi-sensei.) |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) |
| Peter: 神社参りは難しいですね。(Jinja mairi wa muzukashii desu ne.) |
| Naomi: え？何で、難しくないでしょう？(E? Nande, muzukashikunai deshō?) |
| Peter: So, it’s hard to visit a temple. |
| Naomi: It’s not. |
| Peter: Well, if you’ve done it all your life. |
| Naomi: うーん、難しいかな。(Ūn, muzukashii ka na.) |
| Yuichi: うーん、別に、そんなことないです。(Ūn, betsu ni, sonna koto nai desu.) |
| Naomi: うん、なんか…。(Un, nanka…) |
| Peter: いや、そんなことあります。(Iya, sonna koto arimasu.) Like I even get nervous when I go up there now. I throw the money in and … なんか、難しいです。(Nanka, muzukashii desu.) |
| Naomi: 本当？(Hontō?) |
| Yuichi: Just please imitate what other people do. そうすれば、簡単です。(Sō sureba, kantan desu.) |
| Peter: So, if you do that, it’s easy. All right. So, let’s use imitating people as a second, second option. And now, Naomi-sensei is gonna tell us about what to do when you visit a shrine. いや、難しくないですね。(Iya, muzukashikunai desu ne.) Like it’s not difficult. 簡単でしょ。(Kantan desho.) So. なおみ先生、日本の代表として。(Naomi-sensei, Nihon no daihyō to shite.) As a representative of Japan, please tell us about visiting a shrine. |
| Naomi: Where shall we start? |
| Peter: Um, so people show up at the shrine. |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) |
| Peter: So, there’s usually a gate. |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) |
| Peter: What’s the gate called? |
| Naomi: 鳥居 (torii) |
| Peter: So, you go through the gate. |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) |
| Peter: And now, you’re on sacred ground. |
| Naomi: And according to the information we have, we are not supposed to walk in the middle of the street. |
| Peter: Really? |
| Naomi: Because the middle of the road has to be vacant for gods. |
| Peter: So, the gods are kind of using that street too. |
| Naomi: そう。(Sō.) |
| Peter: So, you should stay to the right or the left. |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) |
| Peter: Okay. And also, this is maybe more common with temples, but sometimes with the gate, there’s a step at the bottom you have to step over. |
| Naomi: Ah, ah, you mean the wooden thing? |
| Peter: Yeah. |
| Naomi: あ、はいはいはいはい。(A, hai hai hai hai.) |
| Peter: And you’re not supposed to step on that either. |
| Naomi: No. |
| Yuichi: No. |
| Naomi: それは、ダメですね。(Sore wa, dame desu ne.) |
| Peter: Woo. ダメが出ました。(Dame ga demashita.) So like when Japanese people use ダメ (dame), it’s kind of serious. So, a lot of times like there’s a wooden door and rather than having nothing at the bottom where you can just walk through, there’s a small kind of- it’s almost like the opening of the door starts about a foot off the ground. So, when I first came here, I used to step on that, but you’re not supposed to do that. You’re supposed to step over it. |
| Naomi: そうですね、あの…。(Sō desu ne, ano…) To step on that wooden thing is so disrespectful, but little kids do that sometimes, so…ちっちゃい子、それでたまに遊んでるから、まあ大丈夫です。大丈夫じゃないけど。(Chitchai ko, sore de tama ni asonde ru kara, mā daijōbu desu. Daijōbu ja nai kedo.) |
| Peter: Yeah. So, try to avoid that. So, when you first come to the door where the door may be inside the temple, but when you’re walking towards the shrine, you wanna stay to the left or the right. If you come to the door that has an opening with the bottom part kind of touching the ground, you wanna step over that. |
| Naomi: それから (sorekara), you probably see the place which has a water tank in it. |
| Peter: Like the picture. |
| Naomi: そうそうそう。(Sō sō sō.) そこで (soko de), you have to purify your hands and mouth. |
| Peter: Hands and mouth. And now is you have to purify them, there’s a certain way you have to do it. Which hand do you start with? |
| Naomi: With your right hand. |
| Peter: You take the ladle, the wooden ladle with your right hand. |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) And we don’t usually scoop the water from the tank. We use the water from the running. |
| Peter: So, the running water. There’s usually a little fountain, a little spout where the running water is coming out of. So, you take the water from there. |
| Naomi: はい。(Hai.) |
| Peter: Okay. |
| Naomi: で、あとはダイアログと一緒ですよね。左手を洗います。(De, ato wa daiarogu to issho desu yo ne. Hidarite o araimasu.) |
| Peter: Then you wash your left hand. |
| Naomi: はい。それから、左手にひしゃくを持って。(Hai. Sorekara, hidarite ni hishaku o motte.) |
| Peter: So, you switch hands with the ladle. |
| Naomi: And wash your right hand. 右手を洗います。(Migite o araimasu.) |
| Peter: Wash your right hand. |
| Naomi: それから、右手にお水を汲んで口を洗います。(Sorekara, migite ni o-mizu o kunde kuchi o araimasu.) |
| Peter: You take more water with the left hand in the ladle, you pour it into the right hand, or you can take it straight from the running water, right? |
| Naomi: あ、そうですね。(A, sō desu ne.) |
| Peter: And then you put it in your mouth and you spit it back out. |
| Naomi: You’re not supposed to gargle it. |
| Peter: And where do you spit it? Do you spit it into the water tank? |
| Naomi: No. |
| Peter: So, in this picture, you wouldn’t spit it into the middle part, but rather, the part around the outside. |
| Naomi: はい、そうです。(Hai, sō desu.) |
| Peter: When you switch hands with a ladle, aren’t you making the clean hand dirty again? |
| Naomi: そんなに汚くないかな。でも、ladle を洗う人もいますよね、running water で。(Sonna ni kitanakunai ka na. Demo, “ladle” o arau hito mo imasu yo ne, “running water” de.) |
| Peter: So, some people wash the ladle before switching hands. |
| Naomi: And you’re not supposed to put your mouth on the ladle. |
| Peter: So, that’s why you put the water on your hand before putting it in your mouth. |
| Naomi: で、ハンカチとかタオルを持っていくと、便利だと思います。(De, hankachi toka taoru o motte iku to, benri da to omoimasu.) |
| Peter: So, you should bring a towel or a handkerchief or something to wipe your mouth with, or your hands, other than your shirt or sleeves or… |
| Naomi: Or hair. |
| Peter: Now, the hands because I guess you’re gonna touch part of the temple and your mouth because you’re gonna say a prayer. |
| Naomi: うーん、考えたことなかった。(Ūn, kangaeta koto nakatta.) |
| Peter: I’m just kind of using like, you know, or maybe it’s just representative of the whole body. |
| Naomi: そうだと思いますけどね。(Sō da to omoimasu kedo ne.) |
| Peter: Hmm, interesting. If anybody has any ideas out there why you have to basically rinse your mouth out, that would be really interesting to know. なおみ先生、調べてもらえますか。(Naomi-sensei, shirabete moraemasu ka.) Can you check it out for us? |
| Naomi: そうですね。あとは、あのお参りは三時半までぐらいには終わらせたほうがいいそうです。(Sō desu ne. Ato wa, ano o-mairi wa san-ji han made gurai ni wa owaraseta hō ga ii sō desu.) |
| Peter: And you can usually visit shrines up until about 3:30. At night, you’re not supposed to go at night, right? |
| Naomi: Usually not, except on New Year’s eve. |
| Peter: When everybody goes to the shrine. |
| Naomi: うん。(Un.) Evil spirits start walking around after 4 o’clock. That’s I was told. |
| Peter: Really? Interesting. Yuichi, where was the last temple you visited? |
| Yuichi: Hie Shrine. |
| Peter: When? |
| Yuichi: Last week. |
| Naomi: あ、本当？(A, hontō?) |
| Yuichi: Yeah. はい。ちょっと、行ってみました。(Hai. Chotto, itte mimashita.) |
| Naomi: 一人で？(Hitori de?) |
| Yuichi: はい。(Hai.) It looks big, but it was not big. |
| Peter: Yeah, it’s not so big. That’s a shrine located across the street from our building and kind of- it’s funny, because it has an influence on the way our office is set up. If you ever wonder why everybody is facing that window, it’s because that’s the direction of the shrine and no one is allowed to put their back to the shrine. So everybody in the office is faced either towards the shrine or in a different direction, but nobody can have their back to the shrine. So, if you ever visit our office and wonder why we’re not using space efficiently, we’re all facing the temple, so that’s the reason. Okay, onto vocab. Nice to have a culture class in there. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Naomi: The first word is… |
| Naomi: お参り (o-mairi) [natural native speed] |
| Peter: shrine visit |
| Naomi: お参り (o-mairi) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Naomi: お参り (o-mairi) [natural native speed] |
| Peter: Next. |
| Yuichi: ちゃんと (chanto) [natural native speed] |
| Peter: properly |
| Yuichi: ちゃんと (chanto) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Yuichi: ちゃんと (chanto) [natural native speed] |
| Peter: Next. |
| Naomi: お清め (o-kiyome) [natural native speed] |
| Peter: purification |
| Naomi: お清め (o-kiyome) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Naomi: お清め (o-kiyome) [natural native speed] |
| Peter: Next. |
| Yuichi: 入れ物 (iremono) [natural native speed] |
| Peter: container |
| Yuichi: 入れ物 (iremono) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Yuichi: 入れ物 (iremono) [natural native speed] |
| Peter: Next. |
| Naomi: ひしゃく (hishaku) [natural native speed] |
| Peter: ladle |
| Naomi: ひしゃく (hishaku) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Naomi: ひしゃく (hishaku) [natural native speed] |
| Peter: Next. |
| Yuichi: 持ち替える (mochikaeru) [natural native speed] |
| Peter: shift something from one arm to the other |
| Yuichi: 持ち替える (mochikaeru) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Yuichi: 持ち替える (mochikaeru) [natural native speed] |
| Peter: Next. |
| Naomi: すすぐ (susugu) [natural native speed] |
| Peter: to wash out, to rinse |
| Naomi: すすぐ (susugu) [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Naomi: すすぐ (susugu) [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Peter: Okay, let’s take a closer look at some of the phrases and words introduced in this lesson. Naomi-sensei, what should we start with? |
| Naomi: お清め (o-kiyome) |
| Peter: “Purification” |
| Naomi: ピーターは...。(Pītā wa…) Have you ever been to a Japanese-style funeral? |
| Peter: Um, not both days, just one day. |
| Naomi: The first day? |
| Peter: Yeah. |
| Naomi: Did they give you purification salt? |
| Peter: Yes. |
| Naomi: そう、「お清めの塩」とかって言いますよね。(Sō, “o-kiyome no shio” toka tte iimasu yo ne.) |
| Yuichi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) |
| Peter: “Purification salt” |
| Naomi: So, after people go to a funeral, they have to purify their body with salt. |
| Peter: Yeah, after leaving. |
| Naomi: そうですね、あの。(Sō desu ne, ano.) Probably, after they enter their house. When my father came back from the funeral, before he entered the house, he always says お清めの塩持ってきて (o-kiyome no shio motte kite). |
| Peter: So, you’re not supposed to go into the house before basically using the salt to get rid of the spirits. |
| Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) |
| Peter: And that’s why you get the salt at the funeral home. You get it there… |
| Naomi: うん。(Un.) |
| Peter: But you don’t use it there. You use it before you come into your home. And also recently, I kind of noticed that a lot of business establishments- if you come to Japan and you’re walking on the streets, look at the base of the entrance to the restaurants or kind of businesses, and you’ll see a little pile of salt. |
| Naomi: そうね。あれも、お清めだと思いますね。(Sō ne. Are mo, o-kiyome da to omoimasu ne.) |
| Yuichi: When I was a student in high school or in junior high school, we had a swimming class in PE. When it’s the first day of the swimming lesson, the principal came into the pool side, he puts a salt on the four corners and for purifications and then he pours Japanese sake 日本酒 (nihonshu) into the pool. It’s kind of the same thing, right? |
| Peter: Wow. |
| Naomi: To purify the pool. |
| Yuichi: In Japan, we use salt and sake for purification in several situations. |
| Peter: Wow, really interesting. |
| Naomi: なので、後でピーターをお酒で洗いましょう。(Nanode, ato de Pītā o o-sake de araimashō.) |
| Yuichi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) |
| Peter: なおみを塩で洗いましょう。どっちがひどいですか。(Naomi o shio de araimashō. Dotchi ga hidoi desu ka.) Like she goes for a bigger and better monster, right? |
| Naomi: じゃあ、その後に塩入りの酒で…。(Jā, sono ato ni shioiri no sake de…) |
| Peter: ゆういちを。(Yūichi o.) |
| Naomi: 今日は、あの…。もう、終わりにしましょうか。(Kyō wa, ano… Mō, owari ni shimashō ka.) |
| Yuichi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) |
| Peter: We ran a bit long today with all the cultural insight. I mean, there’s just kind of a lot to talk about, especially when it comes to religion in Japan. Quite still a bit of a mystery and there are so many different types of religion here in Japan. |
| Naomi: そうですね。(Sō desu ne.) And the manners are a bit vague, but don’t worry too much. |
| Yuichi: Yeah. It depends on the sects of the religion, so it’s kind of very difficult for a Japanese, even. |
| Peter: Sect. |
| Yuichi: Yeah, sect. |
| Peter: It depends on the sect of the religion. So, Japan is known for Shinto and Bukkyo, so Shinto religion and Buddhism. There is also Catholicism and people practicing many different religions here. |
| Naomi: カルトもあるしね。(Karuto mo aru shi ne.) |
| Peter: So, we’re getting to a long discussion about that. So, inside the PDF, there’s a detailed grammar write-up, so you definitely wanna stop by and pick up the PDF, because today, we covered the ～たらいい(-tara ii), the tara conditional combined with いい (ii), which literally means if someone does something, it will be alright. So, you wanna stop by, pick up that PDF. |
Outro |
|---|
| Peter: And that’s gonna do it for the premium lessons. なおみ先生、楽しかったですね。(Naomi-sensei, tanoshikatta desu ne.) It was fun. |
| Naomi: そうですね。あの、勉強になりましたね、私たちもね。(Sō desu ne. Ano, benkyō ni narimashita ne, watashi-tachi mo ne.) |
| Yuichi: そうですね。とっても勉強になりました。(Sō desu ne. Tottemo benkyō ni narimashita.) |
| Peter: So, thank you again for listening to these premium lessons and we’ll be back with something else, we’re not sure. But this kind of wraps it up. So, we wanna thank the photographer too, Jon Hong Lee for going around and taking all these pictures. |
| Naomi: ジョンホンリーさん。(Jon Honrī-san.) |
| Peter: She went all around Tokyo, spent the day getting all these pictures and so, we wanna thank her too. |
| Yuichi: ありがとうございました。(Arigatō gozaimashita.) |
| Naomi: 本当にありがとうございました。(Hontō ni arigatō gozaimashita.) |
| Peter: Okay, that’s gonna do it for today and series. お疲れさまです。(Otsukare-sama desu.) |
| Naomi: じゃ、また。(Ja, mata.) |
| Yuichi: さよなら。(Sayonara.) |
| A: お母さん、どうしたらいいのー。 (O-kā-san, dō shitara ii nō.) |
| B: お手てとお口をきれいにするのよ。 (O-tete to o-kuchi o kirei ni suru no yo.) |
| A: なんでー。 (Nandē.) |
| B: お参りする前は、ちゃんとお清めしないといけないの。 (O-mairi suru mae wa, chanto o-kiyome shinai to ikenai no.) |
| A: この入れ物はー？ (Kono iremono wā?) |
| B: ひしゃくって言うのよ。 (Hishaku tte iu no yo. ) |
| まず右手にひしゃくを持って、左手を清めて、 (Mazu migite ni hishaku o motte, hidarite o kiyomete,) |
| それから左手に持ち替えて、右手を清めるのよ。 (sorekara hidarite ni mochikaete, migite o kiyomeru no yo.) |
| それからお口をすすぐの。 (Sorekara o-kuchi o susugu no.) |
| A: はーい。 (Hāi.) |
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