Kenyoku (乾浴) means "dry bathing." It is a short cleansing technique of brushing strokes across the body, used to clear the energy field and mark a clean beginning or ending to practice.
Dry bathing
The name compares the movement to washing without water. With light, deliberate strokes of the hand, the practitioner is said to sweep away lingering or stale energy — both to reset themselves and to create a clear space before working.
How it is done
A simple version uses three strokes:
Place the right hand at the top of the left shoulder and draw it down across the chest to the right hip.
Repeat with the left hand from the right shoulder down to the left hip.
Brush down each outstretched arm from the shoulder to the fingertips, exhaling as you go.
When to use it
Kenyoku sits near the start of Hatsurei-ho, but it can also be used on its own — before a session to prepare, afterward to clear, or any time you want to feel reset. It takes only a few seconds and needs no special setting.
A small, useful reset
Part of what makes kenyoku endure is its plainness. It takes only seconds, needs no props, and can be done almost anywhere — before sitting down to practise, after a difficult encounter, or simply when you want to feel that a page has been turned.
Whether one takes the "clearing of energy" literally or reads it as a gesture that helps the mind let go, the effect is much the same: a deliberate, physical way of marking a boundary between one thing and the next.