noun
purification font at shrine entrance
A stone or wooden basin filled with water, used for ritual hand and mouth cleansing before approaching a Shinto shrine. Often called 手水舎 (ちょうずや) or simply 手水 (ちょうず).
神社の入り口にある御手洗で手と口を清める。
Purify your hands and mouth at the font of purifying water at the shrine entrance.
Standard kanji spelling for the shrine purification font.
Kana spelling is common in everyday writing, especially when the kanji are considered difficult or formal.
Compound of honorific prefix 御 (み) and 手洗 (たらし), an old form of 手洗い (hand washing). The reading みたらし is a specific Shinto term.