Her will, like iron. Her braids, like steel.
A character who strengthens mind and body by sitting under a waterfall.
Truth in Television: It's a well-known Asian ascetic practice (known in Shinto as misogi
), at least for those ascetics who live around waterfalls.
Compare Watching the Sunset, contrast Waterfall Shower.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- 7 Seeds has Gengoro do this in a standing variety, as a way to strengthen his will and prepare himself to killing Tango, the tiger he raised since kittenhood during the Final Test.
- In the second opening of Ace Attorney (2016), which covers all but the first case of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Justice For All, Maya is shown doing this meditation, with her cousin Pearl watching.
- Ayakashi Triangle
- Matsuri stands under a waterfall to concentrate and manipulate spiritual energy. He used to strip down to his fundoshi, but after turning into a girl he wears a robe—not that it's hiding anything. At one point, he gets overexcited at Suzu hugging him, and basically uses the waterfall as a cold shower.
- Suzu once joins Matsuri's training, but is overwhelmed by the cold water even in (bikini-form) protective gear. When she notices the clothes clinging to Matsuri's body, she realizes she can use Life Energy to warm herself up, which also wakes small, dormant spirits in the river. Shirogane points out the irony of withstanding ascetic training with The Power of Lust.
Shirogane: That girl... she's trying to overcome waterfall training with worldly desires.
- The Bái Hǔ Zú in Bakuten Shoot Beyblade, who fit All Chinese People Know Kung-Fu, occasionally do this in G-Revolution. In the manga, the samurai Kennosuke also meditates under a waterfall as part of his training.
- The second ending sequence in Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo has Soften and Heppokomaru doing this, but Heppokomaru can't manage it.
- Nabeshin, Pedro, and Pedro's son from Excel♡Saga do this during their Training Montage before they set out to rescue Pedro's wife from That Man.
- Fairy Tail: During the Key of the Starry Sky Filler arc, Gajeel does this for training before he's called up by Levy to help with the main plot...while also taking lightning bolts from the storm clouds overhead because he wants to toughen up for a possible showdown with Laxus after watching Natsu get creamed by him earlier.
- Kenshiro from Fist of the North Star does this as part of his childhood training, leading to an incident where he is saved by Toki from a falling log. Koryu; also does this after giving up the successorship of Hokuto Shinken to Ryuken.
- Despite not really happening, Tohru Honda from Fruits Basket thought that it was part of Kyo's Training from Hell that happened before the series start.
- The page image is Princess Fala from GoLion. After her kingdom was left in ruins by Emperor Daibazaal and Prince Sincline, she became a warrior so that she could help the pilots of [GoLion] defeat him and put an end to the Galra's tyranny for good. As she prepares to become a pilot for the Blue Lion, she trains herself in martial arts, which includes meditating. Fala being a Warrior Princess is something that would be carried on to her future incarnations as well.
- In Gundam 00, Mr. Bushido expresses his desire to engage Setsuna in combat while doing so in the second season.
- Hanaukyō Maid Team episode 14. Konoe Tsurugi and Taro stand under a waterfall and concentrate while she's training him.
- Parodied in Happy Mania: Shigeta is pictured meditating under a waterfall... about men as usual.
- In Heaven's Lost Property, Tomoki and Astraea attempt to do this, but eventually Astraea says the water is too cold and passes out.
- Happens in Inuyasha, when Miroku visits the family shrine after his curse is wounded and threatens his life.
- From Lupin III, we have the ever-training Goemon Ishikawa XIII. He meditates in waterfalls, as well as cloudy mountain peaks, hot springs, and secluded canyons. Sometimes he does more than one at the same time! In Goemon Ishikawa's Spray of Blood he not only contemplates his loss under an especially large and powerful waterfall, but fights hard against the battering it gives him to help strengthen him.
- The Jewelpets' training in episode 28a of Jewelpet: Magical Change involves meditating under a waterfall. Airi hates the water falling on her head, and Luea shampoos her fur while she's at it.
- Love Hina:
- Motoko Aoyama does this, but one time, she gets bothered by some arrow graphics with her name on them and slices the fourth wall, transitioning into the next scene.
- Keitaro also does this later in the manga although he gets hit by a falling log.
- Played for Laughs in Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid when Tohru and Kanna do this to learn how to bend spoons. A log falls on Tohru, but being a dragon, it just bounces off her head.
- The kendo captain in My-HiME does the entire "sitting under waterfall" thing to "cleanse his spirit of lustful thoughts".
- Tsurezure of Ojojojo does this in chapter 23 in an attempt to become a person worthy of being Haru's boyfriend.
- Parodied in One Piece when Luffy and Usopp stand under a bath's fountain to mimic this. Zoro is also seen doing it in a filler episode.
- Pokémon: The Series:
- Ash and Pikachu are shown doing this in the seventh opening for the anime.
- Otoshi and his Marowak apparently do this too. Mind you, Marowak is a Ground-type and therefore weak to water.
- That, of course, being the point, as it was training to increase Marowak's resistance to water. Otoshi was doing it too because he'd pledged to put himself through all the same training he was putting Marowak through as a sign of their commitment and solidarity.
- Blackbelt Kiyo is meditating under a waterfall when an abandoned Tyrogue floats by.
- Ryoma in the Power Stone anime. While telling his fortune, Rouge assumes this means he has a fascination with laundry.
- Seiji Date from Ronin Warriors does this twice—and his hair doesn't move an inch. There would have been a 3rd, but meditating in a cave behind the waterfall doesn't count.
- In an episode of Sailor Moon S, Makoto goes to train in a Buddhist temple led by a famous Bare-Fisted Monk named Kakuzuin. At some point she catches him training like this and attempts to imitate him, but she can barely withstand few seconds under the icy water. Then Kakuzuin gets out... and sneezes, as he only managed to do it due to being very focused.
- During his training to become a Bronze Saint, Saint Seiya's Shiryu didn't just meditate under the waterfall —he learned to kick it hard enough to reverse the water's flow.
- In the first season of Saint Seiya Omega, Shiryu, after losing all his senses, spent all of his time meditating under the waterfall, while training his son Ryuhou through Cosmo. Ryuhou himself is briefly shown doing it at the end of the second season's third episode.
- Subverted, lampshaded and used straight in Samurai Champloo. Mugen is doing a Training Montage before facing a fearsome swordsman, and towards the end, he approaches the waterfall, commenting, "Meditating under a waterfall..."; then, after staring at it for a few seconds, he just goes "Screw that" and walks away. Later, however, while Mugen is in the fight, the Buddhist priest (who was once a swordsman, and who trained the guy Mugen is fighting, before he fell to a darker path), is seen meditating under that same waterfall, running his Prayer Beads as he prays for Mugen's victory.
- One chapter of Sgt. Frog opens with Koyuki and Dororo leaving to do this. The meditation causes Dororo to Flashback briefly to a revealing conversation with his teacher, Jirara.
- The "training" sequence to prepare for the School Prom in Episode 17 of Space☆Dandy features waterfall meditation as a joke.
- Spy X Family: Anya does this during her Training Montage in Mission 10. Until it's revealed that she's actually just thinking of this trope while in the shower.
- Squid Girl: Sanae tries this so she can change her behavior and eventually be around Ika without trying to glomp her and such, and not be knocked away.
- On Steel Angel Kurumi both Nakahito and his brother do this.
- Referenced in episode 25b of Tamagotchi, where Flowertchi, under the effects of a mariland flower, becomes extremely talkative to Gozarutchi and mentions that she knows a waterfall is considered the best place to meditate by ninja masters. She then launches into some info she has about a waterfall she knows about that's far away, but very pretty.
- Tenchi does this in one chapter of the Tenchi Muyo! manga.
- In Touhou Ibarakasen ~ Wild and Horned Hermit, poor Reimu is forced to meditate under a waterfall by Kasen as part of her training to become a more disciplined Miko.
- In a Touken Ranbu - Hanamaru season 2 episode, a group of swords lead by Yamabushi head out for some Training from Hell. One of the most remembered scenes in this episode is Juzumaru doing this in a fanservicey manner complete with Sexy Soaked Shirt.
- In Ultimate Muscle, a competitor for the Chojin Crown does this, but is reported to have been knocked out by a lump of driftwood midway through.
- In Vagabond, chapter 52, Musashi attempts to meditate to remove the fear of dying to someone he lost to. The instructor lampshades that ancient people have done it to remove their fears, but then subverts it when stating it won't do any good. Musashi almost drowns as a result.
"By the time you rise out of the falls... you shall become fully aware... that it's not going to do any good."
- Kyohei from The Wallflower tried it once when he suspected he was in love with Sunako. As it turned out, he got distracted by his hunger and ended up craving fried prawn.
- Yuri and Yuri do this in episode 3 of Yuri!!! on Ice, while training for their competition.
- A number of cases in Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs:
- Chapter 14 has an image spot of Sagiri doing this.
- The same happens with Oboro at the start of Chapter 22.
- Yuuna also is shown to be doing this near the start of Chapter 48 to rein in her Power Incontinence.
- Zatch Bell!: Tia uses this to power up her defensive abilities and gain access to her strongest shield spell.
Comic Books
Fan Works
- In Chapter 25 of Pokémon Reset Bloodlines, A.J and his Sandslash show this to Jeanette Fisher, explaining that they do it to build up resistance against Water-type attacks.
Film — Live-Action
- In Best of the Best, the South Korean Taekwondo team is shown standing under a waterfall during their training.
- Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019): Mothra effectively does this- retreating under a waterfall as a larvae to pupate, then finally emerging in her adult form.
Literature
- In the Discworld novel Soul Music, when Glod and Cliff have Buddy's harp fixed, they tell the cunning artificer that the harp is of such quality that the original maker spent a week under a waterfall in a buffalo hide meditating before even pickup up his tools. The artificer replies that for what they're paying him he'll have a quick sit in the shower wearing a chamois leather.
- In The Ring, upon being attacked by the press for being a fraud, Heihachiro Ikuma, Sadako Yamamura's father, tried to unlock psychic powers by meditating under a waterfall. He ended up contracting tuberculosis, causing him to spend the rest of his life at a sanatorium.
Live-Action TV
- This was part of a detour challenge in The Amazing Race: Unfinished Business (Season 18).
- Done in Kamen Rider Den-O by K-Ryotaro — which, given Kintaro's predisposition towards martial arts, should come off as no surprise.
- Anthony Bourdain does this in an episode of No Reservations. The behind the scenes episode showed that it was a really awkward shot.
- Ryunosuke spontaneously does this under a fountain at the end of the second episode of Samurai Sentai Shinkenger, with all the Large Ham he's famous for.
Tabletop Games
- Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition: Among the many Planar Touchstones described in the Planar Handbook, there is Mimshan's Curtain, a waterfall located in the Outlands (the True Neutral plane). This was the meditation spot for the legendary monk Mimshan, and anyone wanting to gain the benefits of the Touchstone has to meditate under the waterfall for 24 hours.
- Yu-Gi-Oh!: Mizuho in the artwork of "Asceticism of the Six Samurai". She's training to become the Hand of the Six Samurai after mourning for Shinai's death.
Video Games
- ANNO: Mutationem: Though this doesn't happen at any point, one achievement artwork "Serenity Now" shows Ann meditating beneath a waterfall after giving enough tributes to a statue.
- Asura before the final battle with Chakravitran in Asura's Wrath.
- CrossCode: The monk in the Bergen South storage house has a woman commenting on him outside the house, and mentioning waterfall meditation:
Woman: Urgh, this guy is blocking the storage house again.
Lea: ...?
Woman: I wish he would meditate somewhere else. Under a waterfall or whatever.
Lea: ... - In Fatal Fury Special, Andy takes one of these in his ending.
- In Fire Emblem Fates, during Kagero and Takumi's supports, the former suggests this to the latter as a way of improving his patience so he can hunt more effectively. Takumi's not thrilled at first, but eventually decides to undergo the training.
- In Granblue Fantasy, this is the theme of Jin's Summer version, evident in the base art◊. His Charge Attack and Passive skill also reflect this, being named "Under Purifying Waters" and "Focus Through The Falls" respectively.
- Mai tells NESTS Kyo to invoke the trope in The King of Fighters XIII.
- The end of the Friendly Local Chinatown section boss in MadWorld is found Meditating Under a Waterfall, the Announcer Chatter inform us it's the first time in ages he's had a shower.
- Parodied in Mega Man 11. According to the Gallery, Torch Man tried this to help keep his power under control. It took three months to repair him after that.
- In Monster Rancher 2, one of the versions of "Meditate" is this.
- Namu Amida Butsu! -UTENA-: The base artwork of Taishakuten's default 4-star spell card shows him doing this, complete with Sexy Soaked Shirt.
- In Pokemon Heart Gold And Soul Silver, the Cianwood Gym Leader, Chuck, meditates under an artificial waterfall in his Gym. In fact, he's so deep in meditation that you can't rouse him to have a battle, despite him being the first trainer you see in the Gym. You have to battle through the Gym to reach the shutoff valve for the waterfall to snap him out of his meditation.
- In Shiren the Wanderer, Pekeji claims to have done this when he has reached his maximum potential.
- Street Fighter 6: Played for laughs with Kimberly, who says in World Tour mode that part of her ninja training involved meditating under a waterfall, which was an incredible experience... of learning that sitting under a waterfall is not fun!
- In Ippatsuman's ending in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars, he realizes how strong the various street fighters are without armor or mecha, and strives to improve himself so he doesn't have to rely on them. Cut to him meditating under a waterfall as Polymar, Viewtiful Joe and Tekkaman wonder if they should be doing the same thing.
Visual Novels
- Maya Fey in Ace Attorney at one point sought a waterfall for her spirit-medium training. There are no nearby waterfalls, however, so she is forced to do it in the shower. She finds that the water pressure isn't high enough, so Phoenix suggests she go to the fire department and get them to hose her down. She does, but they turn her down. The basis of the plot of the last case of the third installment is Maya, Pearl and Phoenix heading to a temple so that Maya can undergo an especially cold variation. It got worse in the manga, where Marvin Grossberg suggested they drain a water tower and ended up flooding the city which got him sued for it.
- During Taketo's route of Class Trip Crush, an incident during the group's visit to a temple in Kyoto results in the guys being made to sit under a waterfall and reflect upon themselves. The protagonist feels bad about it since she was partly responsible, but Taketo and Yasuto, the jocks of the group, seem to enjoy it.
- In Shall We Date?: Ninja Shadow, the Himuro Shrine's grounds include a waterfall. If the heir to the Shrine and local Sexy Priest Asagi is the chosen boyfriend, one of the most poignant scenes in his route has him doing this and then collapsing due to his terrible mental and emotional state, much to the Player Character's worry.
Web Comics
- Mob Psycho 100 has Mob do this as a part of his hardcore training montage to run for student council president.
- Penny Arcade's Cardboard Tube Samurai does a bit of waterfall meditation in this strip.
Western Animation
- In Avatar: The Last Airbender episode "The Guru", Aang takes some of his lessons from Guru Pathik in front of a waterfall.
- Blue Eye Samurai. Mizu does this in the first episode; the scene then Match Cuts to her kneeling before the glowing forge of Swordfather, as she informs him of her intent to leave on her Roaring Rampage of Revenge.
- Samurai Jack does it before engaging possessed-blind-demon archers. He does this to heighten mental focus on his sense of hearing, so he could fight the blind archers on their level. He had already determined they were blind, and that this was the best method to triumph.
- In the Steven Universe episode "Garnet's Universe", Garnet, Hopper, and Hoppy do this as part of a Training Montage. Ringo, on the other hand, takes a Waterfall Shower.
