Chōzubachi

{{short description|Japanese water bowl for ritual handwashing}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}}

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File:Shizutani Scholl the Washbowl.JPG

File:Two Women rinse the hands (act of misogi using temizu) (1915-04 by Elstner Hilton).jpg

A {{Nihongo|chōzubachi|手水鉢}}, or water bowl, is a vessel used to rinse the hands in Japanese temples, shrines and gardens. Usually made of stone, it plays an important role in the tea ceremony. Guests use it to wash their hands before entering the tearoom, a practice originally adapted from the custom of rinsing one’s mouth and cleansing one’s body in the chōzuya before entering the sacred precincts of a Shinto shrine or a Buddhist temple.{{cite web |title=chouzubachi |url=http://www.aisf.or.jp/~jaanus/deta/c/chouzubachi.htm |publisher=Atsumi International Scholarship Foundation |work=Japanese Architecture and Art Net Users System |access-date=15 August 2016 |script-title=ja:手水鉢}}

Prior to modern plumbing, Japanese homes contained a chōzu-bachi with a dipper, and provisions for drainage of wastewater, placed so that it could be used from the engawa (veranda or corridor). A towel was often hung nearby. One would be placed near the entrance of a latrine, though there might also be chōzu-bachi elsewhere.{{cite book | first=Edward S. | last=Morse | title=Japanese Homes and their Surroundings | publisher=Charles E. Tuttle Company | isbn=0-8048-0998-4 | author-link= Edward S. Morse |date=1885|url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/52868/52868-h/52868-h.html}}

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.{{cite web |title=chouzubachi |url=http://www.aisf.or.jp/~jaanus/deta/c/chouzubachi.htm |publisher=Atsumi International Scholarship Foundation |work=Japanese Architecture and Art Net Users System |access-date=15 August 2016 |script-title=ja:手水鉢}}