Jintsuji Temple’s Chief Priest Completes Grueling 100-Day Ascetic Practice in Japan’s Mie Prefecture

The Yomiuri Shimbun

17:01 JST, March 3, 2026

NABARI, Mie — The chief priest of Jintsuji Temple in Nabari, Mie Prefecture, held a ceremony to mark the completion of his 100-day ascetic practice at the temple.

Jinsho Washisaka and eight other priests confined themselves at Shochuzan Hokkekyoji Temple in Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture, from Nov. 1 to Feb. 10. During the practice, known as daiaragyo, the priests chanted Buddhist scriptures and performed cold-water ablutions seven times a day, with only two hours of sleep.

They subsisted on plain rice gruel for breakfast and dinner, along with a single pickled plum. Cut off from the outside world, they endured hunger, sleep deprivation and the cold.

An individual can undertake the practice no more than five times. This was Washisaka’s fifth time and his first in a decade.

The eight priests from Aichi, Gifu and Nara prefectures who undertook the practice with Washisaka walked together from Nabari Station to Jintsuji Temple.

After taking pictures with parishioners, the nine priests, clad in shimekomi loincloths, poured cold water over their heads to purify themselves.

“I am overwhelmed with emotion,” Washisaka said after the ceremony. “I felt renewed determination to devote myself even more fully to the Buddhist path.”