The annual winter swimming competition, in which the New Year's first swim is performed using traditional old-fashioned swimming methods, was held on the coast of Tsu City, Mie Prefecture, on a reduced scale to combat the new coronavirus.
This tournament is held every January in order to hand down the old-fashioned swimming method called "Kankai Ryu", which has been handed down to the local community since the end of the Edo period and has been designated as an intangible cultural property of Tsu City.
About 30 people swim every year, but in order to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus, seven men in their teens to 60s will take their first swim on the Akoura coast in Tsu City. I did.
Although the lowest temperature in the morning in Tsu City on the 11th was 0.9 degrees Celsius, which was lower than usual, the participants went into the sea in swimsuits and loincloths, despite the cold weather.
The Kankai-ryu is characterized by quietly swimming a long distance without making waves, and the participants showed off the basic swimming method of swimming in a row with their faces exposed, "Hiraogi", and all of them showed off. I was swimming about 50 meters while calling out.
"I'm glad I was able to inherit the 98-year tradition of winter swimming among the new coronaviruses," said Hatsoo Uesugi, president of "Susuijutsu." I did. "