Image from the "Chanbara Mizu no Jin" period show in which water splashes on the audience (provided by Toei Kyoto Studio Park)

Toei Kyoto Studio Park in Ukyo Ward, Kyoto, is making a cool transformation this summer. The studio park will show a period drama entitled "Eigamura Hiehie Okoku," or cool movie kingdom, every day from July 13 to September 8, in which water will splash into the audience's seats, and also sell bowls of special shaved ice with "Nama-Yatsuhashi," or a traditional sweet made of raw, cinnamon-flavored rice cake with bean paste filling, and other toppings. It is the first power-saving-oriented project after the Great East Japan Earthquake. The studio park is advertising it, saying "Let's beat the heat using the wisdom of common people in the Edo Period when there were no air conditioners.”

The setting for the period show "Chanbara Mizu no Jin," or a sword-fighting water battle, is the battle between a samurai of justice named "Jubei" and a round-headed sea monster called "Umibozu" who appeared in the city of Edo to turn human beings into "kappa," or water goblins, with magical water. The show will be performed on the special stage in the main square and other places. The plan is for large amounts of water from backstage to splash the audience sitting in the special, close seats in response to the swordplay between "Jubei" and "Umibozu."

The special shaved ice is sold only during the summer with special toppings such as "Yuko no Hyuganatsu," or a type of "Nama-Yatsuhashi" with orange pulp and white bean paste filling and lots of fruit sold by Izutsu Yatsuhashi Honpo, in Ukyo Ward, Kyoto, and "Natsu Otabe," or folded dumplings with bean paste filling and a warabimochi-like texture, sold by the confectionery "Otabe," based in Minami Ward, Kyoto. Shaved ice with a soft, fluffy texture made in an old-fashioned way and other various kinds of shaved ice will be sold at restaurants in the studio park.

In addition to a company of Ninja which will pop up somewhere every day and chase after visitors with water pistols, the attraction "Shijo Saikyo no Obakeyashiki," or the most horrifying-ever haunted house, will be open daily. It has a 500 yen entrance fee for junior high school students and older. Also, a show will be held at the Edo Period Classroom Re-Enactment, "Omoshiro Gakushu-kan Terakoya," to teach about how people survived the summer in the Edo Period. The studio park will be open until 9:00 p.m. from August 11 to August 15 and each facility will be illuminated.

The admission fee for the studio park is 2,200 yen for adults, 1,300 yen for junior and senior high school students, and 1,100 yen for children aged three and older.