Chōzuya


Chōzu-ya or temizu-ya is a Shinto water ablution pavilion for a ceremonial purification rite known as temizu or chōzu. The pavillion contains a chōzu-bachi. There are many types of chōzu-bachi; for instance, a low chōzu-bachi, with attendant stones, is called a tsukubai and is often found in tea-gardens. Chōzu-bachi are usually stone, but may be made of other materials, such as ceramic or bronze.
Prior to modern plumbing, Japanese homes contained a chōdzu-bachi with a dipper, and provisions for drainage of wastewater, placed so that it could be used from the engawa. A towel was often hung nearby. One would be placed near the entrance of a latrine, though there might also be chōdzu-bachi elsewhere.
At shrines, larger water-filled basins, also called chōzu-bachi, are used by worshippers for washing their left hands, right hands, mouth and finally the handle of the water ladle to purify themselves before approaching the main Shinto shrine or. This symbolic purification is normal before worship and all manned shrines have this facility, as well as many Buddhist temples and some new religious houses of worship. The temizu-ya is usually an open area where clear water fills one or various stone basins. Dippers are usually placed in the area, and are available to worshippers. In the 1990s, water for temizu at shrines was sometimes from domestic wells, and sometimes from the municipal supply.
Originally, this purification was done at a spring, stream or seashore and this is still considered the ideal. Worshippers at the Inner Shrine at Ise still use this traditional way of ablution.