I know that the plain Imperative is just the te-form, so "Do it!" would be in romaji written: "Shite!".
And if you’ve got any children having a bath with you and they want to play with the leaves, Ikuna would like you to tell them “ Go for it!”
Even if you aren’t a superstitious person, you can enjoy taking part in a Japanese tradition that many Japanese people themselves aren’t familiar with. If you want to celebrate with your own shoubu yu, grab some iris leaves, pop them in the bath and have a good old soak. Of course, iris flowers have medicinal purposes and iris oil is often used in aromatherapy, but irises are also believed to ward off diseases and disasters, and it is believed they help people cope with the heat of the summer months. We mentioned before that shoubu yu is meant to be good for your health. So in other words, shoubu yu is not necessarily about taking a nice-smelling bath, or respecting an ancient culture. It’s not particularly strong, though, and it doesn’t change even if you rip up the irises. The irises give off a unique yet distinct aroma. ▼ It’s good to see her bathing habits remain the same.
She played so much that her parents would always tell her, “You’re going in the bath last.” In fact, Ikuna used to play with the iris leaves by biting and tearing them.
She thinks you should be free to do it the way that you want to do it. If you’re thinking “But which is the right way? This is a traditional custom, so I have to do it a certain way or it will be disrespectful!”, don’t worry. Ikuna’s home prefecture of Tottori has the leaves bound and put in the hot bath water, so that’s what she did. Feel free to use as many or few iris leaves as you want, though.ĭepending on the area of Japan, the leaves can be separated or bound together. She weren’t really sure how many she should buy, but this amount seemed like it’s more than the average. So Ikuna went back and got six packs with around 20 iris leaves total, costing 900 yen (US$8.50). Come back on May 4.” Apparently irises are not really big sellers outside of shoubu yu, so they’re often not on sale until then. In preparation for shoubu yu, our Japanese language-reporter Ikuna Kamezawa decided to hit the shops as soon as May started to grab some irises, but the shopkeeper told her with a laugh “You’re too early. So, we at SoraNews24 decided to give it a go, and take a nice relaxing soak with some irises. Sounds kind of like a weird superstition, but if you look at how lively and high-spirited some of the older Japanese generation is, there might be something in it after all. The practice of bathing with irises is allegedly good for your health. But actually bathing with a plant? Sure, it might not be too far off the winter custom of bathing with yuzu citrus fruits, but this is a practice that is most likely unknown to a large percentage of Japanese people. Taking baths at home is also popular, and there are a wide range of crazy bath salts you can buy to make your bathing experience a unique one. Shoubu yu is a custom that is celebrated by taking a bath with iris flowers. Bathing culture is big in Japan, with an abundance of hot springs all across the country. But actually, there is another much lesser known custom that is practiced on May 5, and that’s shoubu yu (iris bath) And sure, if you ask a random person on the street here what event is celebrated on May 5, pretty much everyone will say ‘Children’s Day’. Children’s Day is well-known throughout Japan, with families hanging koi carp streamers for their kids. The beginning of May marks a string of public holidays in Japan, with May 5 being Children’s Day. For health, happiness and just having fun!