Traditional and modern Japanese culture mix at Kanda Shrine.

Summer is always a hot and humid time in Japan, and so the country has a number of traditional ways to deal with the heat. On the fashion front, there’s the kimono, a type of yukata made with lighter fabric and worn with fewer layers. For sweets fans, cafes and snack stands across the country serve up bowls of shaved ice. And then there’s the practice of uchimizu.

Translating loosely to “splashing water,” uchimizu is a custom in which water is sprinkled on pavement or cobblestones on hot days in order to cool down the immediate area. With roots thought to stretch back to the late 15th/early 16th centuries, uchimizu has an old-school aura to it, and is customarily done by pouring or ladling water from a bucket, without using pressurized hoses or other modern equipment. As such, it’s a natural match for places with traditional aesthetics like shrines, including downtown Tokyo’s Kanda Shrine.

Of course, with Kanda Shrine also being the closest major shrine to the city’s anime/video game neighborhood of Akihabara, an influx of otaku culture isn’t out of the question either.

Last Saturday, Kanda Shrine (also known as Kanda Myojin) held Uchimizu Girls Gathering, an annual event in which representatives of maid cafes and other themed restaurants in the Akihabara area assemble at the shrine for an uchimizu session. This year, participants from 17 different shops and restaurants participated, spreading water and good cheer, calling out “Suzushiku nare!” (“Become cool!”), a variant on the “Oishiku nare!” (“Become delicious!”) command often given by maids to food as it’s served to customers at their cafes.

Among those taking part were maids Renachi and Chiakyan from At-Home Cafe, one of Akihabara’s most popular maid cafes which is now celebrating its 20-year anniversary.

So, does uchimizu actually make the environment cooler? Before the water splashing, the ground temperature at the shrine was measured at 38 degrees Celsius (100.4 degrees Fahrenheit), and once the uchimizu was done, it had dropped all the way down to 31 degrees. That’s a pretty significant difference, but it’s not clear if that effect extends beyond the sections of pavement that were directly moistened, or how long it lasts. However, the primary goals of the event are to raise awareness of environmental issues and to bolster a sense of connectedness within the local community, and with a positive reaction from participants and shrine visitors, the maid uchimizu event looks to have been a success, and one that’ll be coming back again next year.

Source, images: PR Times
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