Sunday, May 31, 2009
OKUHIDA Onsen Gifu ken
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Meotobuchi Onsen
Sunday, May 3, 2009
The Empress Komyo: purifying the soul
People believed that the bath would exorcize the imputities like the death, illness, menstrual blood.
In the West one makes effort to avoid to sin and so have a chance to go to the heaven.
In Japan on thinks that the vileness of the soul get fixed on the body like the bad smell all along live, but could be vanish through a daily bath.
The Empress Komyo : Old writings have shown that in the budhist temples during the 8th century there were steam bath. Wealthy people were paying all costs hopping to be payed back by god. Those wealthy people were taking care of the bath of the poor and the sick person themselves.
The exemple came from of the beautiful Empress Komyo:
People were saying she was embraced with a divine light proof of here spiritual progression. One day the light disappeared. She sought that the reason comes from the fact that she was not enought pious, and committe to give a bath to 1000 poor and disabling of any age and any gender.
The thousend person who came was a leprous one. The Empress did not vacillate and during the time she was giving him the bath the aura came back.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Hokkawa onsen
Saturday, April 18, 2009
The origin of the public bathe(Sento)
Before the development of the public bath, Shinto temples were the first places where ordinary japanese would take a bath.
There were two kind of bath:
* the "Yu" hot water bath and
* the "Furo" or steam bath.
Those bath were in a special building inside the temple court yard, not fare away from a wellspring. In the first room the water was heated in a huge wooden bath tub. The steam was conducted through bamboo tube in a second room, the "Yu-YU", with an other large wooden bath tube full of hot water.
The first Sento appeared during the Heian period (8th century).
Unlike temple bath where people was dressed in white yukata and silence prevailed, the public bath (Sento) autorized the nudity and talks. The name of such bath was "Machiyu" or literally "the hot water in the city"
During the Edo period with the developemnt of the cities the bath became a trully relaxation and pleasure place. The number of bath increased rapidely. Competition pushed the sentos to multiply services, like restauration room, relaxation room , massage and men who scrubbed ladies and ladies who scrubbed men. This evolution transformed the Sentos in the major socialisation place in the Japan. The development of mixed bathing has been helped by an all time tolerance of the japanese sociaty toward social nudity, particularly in the lower class.
This attitude was fondamentally different from the prudishness that prevailed in the West, where, since the middle age the nudity was comdemned by the Christian religion.
After the Meiji revolution with the opening of the country to the western influence, the japanese autorities imposed the gender separation in the public bath. Many of them built just a wall inside the bath room high enough to separe the view not the talks.
Similar evolution happened in the Onsen, but japanese people resisted to the western prudish pressure by using a small (or large ) bath towel to cover their body when soaking in mixed bath.
In most tradional onsen swimsuits are not autorized because it does not fit with the fit with the purification ritual of the origin
Monday, April 13, 2009
Hoshi Onsen
Hoshi Onsen is unique among all onsen in Japan. Originally built in the 1870's the onsenis mananged by the fifth generation of the Okamura family.
Hoshi Onsen is said to be one of the only 50 onsen sites built directly at the source, water flows directly up through a peble and rock aquafiltre. No water is added to cool down.
There are two inside bath the large one mixed and the other for ladies, open for day bath from 10:30 to 13:30 . Many couples meet at this place but some time too many men are soaking in front of the lady changing room door . In the water no towel are autorizide.
Soaking in the water inside the old building the view of the wooden structure is extraordinary. In this place you get a litlle tast of the japanese tradition of mixed bathing in the Edo periode. Enjoy and respect the rules
Adress: From Tokyo take the Shinkansen Joetsu to Jomokogen, the the public bus to Sarukyo and transfert to the Hoshi shutlle (calla before)
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Sukayu : A new challenge for the mixed bathing
A campain has started by agroup of concerned citizens to stop the stares of men at one of Japan's most famous Onsen resort that still practices mixed bathing.
The Konyoku wo Mamoru Kai (protect Mixed Bathing Association) has seen an increase of mento the Sukayu Onsen resort in Aomori. With the increase of men, they have also sen an increase of women complaining that men are leering at them.
The Sukayu Onsen has been visited for almost 320 years, and features a huge bath of 260 square meters. sukayu has signs for both men and women's bathing areas, but features no walls to obstruct the view when entering the bath.
Mentality evolution:In the past, before the Meiji era and the opening of the country to western influence, all bath were mixed. Kids from both gender were educated to share bath. Seeing the oposite sex naked was the rule. Under the presure of mostly the british and americans the bath became step by step separate by gender. Today there are a few places where mixed bathing it still the rule.But the gender ratio is often not very balanced, (two for ten) what makes the ladies unconfortable to share the pleasure of the bath.
Let me know your opinion on the subject and what you suggest to keep one of the greatest benefit of the tradional japanese culture