The impacts of climate change are often severe, affecting communities in tangible ways. Yet what happens when the impacts are less easily defined? New research on a ritual from the traditional religion of Shinto in Japan explores the cultural impacts that communities face and the ways these communities can play a role in climate change solutions.
A new article titled “The Omiwatari Religious Ritual: An Example of Climate Change-Driven Loss of Intangible Cultural Heritage” by Daniel Puig, a researcher at the Centre for Climate and Energy Transformation at the University of Bergen in Norway, explores the various ways observers are adapting a cryosphere-centered ritual not only to the physical changes that alter its performance but also to the cultural and scientific values associated with it.
Puig conducts his research in the Nagano Prefecture of Japan, Lake Suwa; the heart of a centuries-old myth inspiring the Omiwatari. This tale describes the god Takeminakata and the goddess Yasakatome, who once lived together in a shrine on the south side of the lake. However, after a harsh dispute, Yasakatome decided to leave Takeminakata and fled to the north shrine. Crossing the lake, Yasakatome’s tears melted the ice, creating hot springs below. Filled with regret, Takeminakata decided to visit Yasakatome once a year; his footprints across the water similarly disrupted the lake with ridges of ice called Omiwatari. Yet the myth also reflects a natural process. Each winter, water from the lake causes ice to expand and contract. Ice ridges—small cracks and fractures in the ice—are produced and reliably appear in the same spot across the lake due to consistent water currents and the location of the subsurface hot springs.
The appearance of these ice ridges also connects to the long-standing Shinto culture. Observers from all over Japan arrive each year to witness a three-day religious ceremony that celebrates this spectacle. Remarkably, ritual leaders at the Yatsurugi Shrine and local fishermen have kept detailed records of the Omiwatari. These records, which stretch back over 600 years, contain unique climatic data, showing dates in each year in which the freezing of Lake Suwa occurred and the arrival of the ice ridges. The records are just one example of how humans have long observed and documented the natural world.
But as global temperatures rise, the conditions necessary for forming the ice ridges are becoming less frequent. Who is most affected by the loss of the lake’s ice cover and the associated ritual? And how does this loss influence how people respond? Puig asks. He raises the question of whether the government and other legal authorities are the most legitimate party to address this loss.
“Sometimes there’s a disconnect between what people deeply care about, and what the law provides,” said Michael Gerrard, director of Columbia University Law School’s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law and a professor of professional practice at Columbia Climate School. “The law is not always effective at protecting tangible losses of climate change, much less intangible.”
However, legal frameworks are not the only ways to respond. Puig’s article presents interviews with members of the community and reports their responses. Some observers place the greatest value in the scientific record-keeping accompanying the ritual, rather than the ritual itself, and argue for the continuation of the records even if some elements in the religious ritual have to be omitted. Others wish to explore memorialization options for the ritual, perhaps preserving the intangible heritage through media like movies, or even a museum.
Regardless of what people value, however, the entire process of the Omiwatari is becoming increasingly rare due to climate change. It mirrors the state of cryospheric loss across the globe. For example, a recent report shows that Swiss glaciers lost 2.5% of their volume just this summer; this rate is higher than average and expected levels. As Puig’s research shows, climate change is impacting not just the physical processes of the Omiwatari but also the cultural richness associated with the ice ridges. Intangible cultural heritage—the traditions, practices, skills or languages passed down through generations—is equally threatened by our changing world. Yet it plays an important part in recovery from impacts, strengthening community-based resilience to climate change threats, as noted by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
“Since the mid-1900s, the number of years when Omiwatari cannot be observed has been increasing, and it has been reported in the news that it has not been observed since 2018,” says Yukiko Hirabayashi, a researcher at the Shibaura Institute of Technology in an interview with GlacierHub.
“Events like Omiwatari follow a specific procedure, and as they become harder to perform, it becomes more difficult to communicate the significance of the event directly,” she explained. The impending loss of both the physical process and cultural practice surrounding the Omiwatari reflects the challenges of understanding and developing responses. How can the law compensate or communities adapt to the world as it evolves from climate change? The Omiwatari ritual is a striking example of how climate change threatens not only Earth’s physical landscape but also the deep history of human culture. As the global temperature rises, threatening our world’s glaciers, we risk losing not only the wonders of our planet but the cultural traditions and stories that are intertwined with them.
Yet these changes can contain within them the seeds of ways to address them. As Hirabayashi stated, “By recognizing that the impact on intangible cultural heritage is also a form of loss due to climate change, I believe we can help more people understand the threat of climate change and motivate them to take action.”
