Baths, Japan (8th-20th Century)*

Artist/Designer: Japanese

Project Location: Japan

Figure 1: The Empress Komyo bathing beggars: she vowed to personally wash a thousand
beggars at Horyuji Temple (Courtesy of Kao Corporation) ( Source | Accessed : February 26, 2020 | Photographer: Unknown )

Figure 2: A temple bath: an example of a late twelfth-century bath ( Source | Accessed : February 26, 2020 | Photographer: Unknown )

Figure 3: A court bath ( Source | Accessed : March 3, 2020 | Photographer: Courtesy of Kao Corporation )

Figure 4: Todanaburo: the cabinet bath remained popular into the Edo period (later part of 16th century) ( Source | Accessed : March 3, 2020 | Photographer: Courtesy of Kao Corporation )

Figure 5: A zakuroguchi in 1853 as sketched by a member of Commodore Perry’s expedition ( Source | Accessed : March 3, 2020 | Photographer: Courtesy of Kao Corporation )

Figure 6: Yunafuro: bathhouses with women attendants proliferated in Edo ( Source | Accessed : March 3, 2020 | Photographer: Courtesy of Kao Corporation )

Figure 7: A woman’s bath in Edo ( Source | Accessed : March 3, 2020 | Photographer: Courtesy of Kao Corporation )

Figure 8: Gyòzui: this form of bathing could be done nearly anywhere ( Source | Accessed : March 3, 2020 | Photographer: Courtesy of Kao Corporation )

Figure 9: Sketches of the hesoburo (“navel bath”), teppòburo (“gun bath”), and komochiburo
(“bath with child”) ( Source | Accessed : March 3, 2020 | Photographer: Courtesy of Kao Corporation )

Figure 10: An example of a wooden household bath ( Source | Accessed : March 3, 2020 | Photographer: Courtesy of Kao Corporation )

Figure 11: Another example of a wooden household bath ( Source | Accessed : March 3, 2020 | Photographer: Courtesy of Kao Corporation )

Style/Period(s):
Vernacular

Primary Material(s):
Ceramic, Wood

Function(s):
Residential Structure

Related Website(s):

Wikipedia: Public Bathing | Accessed : April 15, 2020

Brief history of Japanese bathing culture | Accessed : June 4, 2020

Guide to Japanese Customs | Accessed : December 3, 2020

Japan Travel | Accessed : December 3, 2020

Significant Date(s):
8th Century, 9th Century, 10th Century, 11th Century, 12th Century, 13th Century, 14th Century, 15th Century, 16th Century, 17th Century, 18th Century, 19th Century, 20th Century

Additional Information:
The public bathhouses have featured in Japanese culture since very early times. The Sentō, Kyodoburo, and Moraiyu (public bath, common bath, and borrowed bath respectively) were so widespread at the beginning of the twentieth century that most Japanese were regular “social bathers”. They bathed with their families and neighbors and while doing so exchanged news, gossip, and ideas, thus reinforcing a sense of community solidarity and function. However, post-1960’s technological developments and economic affluence allowed baths to be placed in the smallest apartments. As a consequence, the traditional public bathhouse and related social activities have been in decline. While the local community does remain cohesive in some sense, the bathhouse, as a center of community communication, has all but disappeared. Today the trend is to bathe alone- to dedicate the bath to personal reverie and a bit of self-indulgence.

Publications/Texts in Print:
Bosrock, Mary Murray (September 2007). Asian Business Customs & Manners: A Country-by-Country Guide. Simon and Schuster. p. 202.

Clark, Scott. Japan, A View from the Bath. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, 1994.

Elwood, Kate (2001). "Greeting Cards". Getting along with the Japanese (1st ed.). Tokyo, Japan: Ask. pp. 66–67.

Marshall, Kevin R. "Japanese Stores and Businesses: Put the Yen in the Tray". The Hidden Japan: Daily Life in Japan and How it Differs from Life in the West.

Mente, Boye Lafayette De (1990). "Funerals". Etiquette guide to Japan : know the rules that make the difference. Rutland, Vt.: C.E. Tuttle Co. pp. 100–102.

Building Address: Illustrations from multiple locations and Edo period

Significant Dates: 1853; time period between 1603 and 1868

Tags: Public baths, Bathing tools, Court bath, Wooden Bathhouse, Edo period, Japanese bathing practices, Archeological sites,, Bath culture, Bathing culture, Bathing, aqueous, hygiene, hygienic, health, Japan, ceramic, wood, 8th Century, 9th Century, 10th Century, 11th century, 12th Century, 13th Century, 14th Century, 15th Century 16th Century, 17th Century, 18th Century, 19th Century, 20th Century

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