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A Sento is a
Japanese communal bath house. Typically these bath houses are quite
utilitarian, with one large room separating the sexes by a tall barrier, a
line of showers along one wall and a single large bath for the already
washed bathers to sit in along the other. Since the
1980s these communal bath houses have been decreasing in numbers as
more and more Japanese bathe at home, and some Japanese are concerned that
without the
skinship of mutual nakedness, children will not be properly
socialized. A special form of the sento is an
Onsen, which is a sento using water from a natural hot spring.
Sento Layout and
Architectural Features
Entrance Area
There are many different layouts for a Japanese public bath. Most
traditional sento, however, are very similar to the layout shown on the
right. The entrance from the outside looks somewhat similar to a temple,
with a Japanese curtain (noren, 暖簾) across the entrance. The curtain is
usually blue and shows the
kanji 湯 (yu, lit. Hot water) or the corresponding
hiragana ゆ. After the entrance there is an area with shoe lockers,
followed by two long curtains or door, one on each side. These lead to the
datsuiba (脱衣場, changing room) for the men and women respectively. The men
and the women side are very similar and differ only slightly
Changing Room
Inside, between the entrances is the Bandai (番台) , were the attendant
sits. The Bandai is a rectangular or horseshoe shaped platform with a
railing, usually around 1.5 to 1.8 m high. Above the Bandai is usually a
large clock. Immediately in front of the Bandai is usually a utility door,
to be used by the attendants only. The dressing room is approximately 10
by 10 m square, covered with
tatami mats and contains the lockers for the clothes. Often, there is
also a large shelf storing the equipment for regular customers.
The ceiling is very high at 3 to 4 meter. The separating wall between
the men and the women side is about 2m high. The dressing room also has
often access to a very small Japanese
garden with a pond, and a Japanese style toilet. There are a number of
tables and chairs, including some coin operated massage chairs. Often
there is also a freezer with
ice cream and a drink vending machine. Usually there is also a scale
to measure the body weight, and sometimes the height. In some very old
sento, this scale may use the traditional Japanese
measure monme (匁,1 monme = 3.75g) and kan (1 kan = 1000monme = 3.75kg)
. Similarly, in old sento the height scale may go only to 180cm. Local
business often advertises in the sento. The women side usually has some
baby beds, and may have more mirrors. The decoration and the
advertising is often gender specific on the different sides.
Bathing Area
The bathing area is separated from the changing area by a sliding door
to keep the heat in the bath. An exception are baths in the
Okinawa region, as the weather there is usually already very hot, and
there is no need to keep the hot air in the bath. Therefore sento in
Okinawa usually have no separation between the changing room and the
bathing area, or only a small wall with an opening to pass through. The
bathing area is usually tiled. Near the entrance area is a supply of small
stools and buckets. There are a number of washing stations at the wall and
sometimes in the middle of the room, each with usually two faucets (Karan
カラン, after the
Dutch word kraan for faucet) , one for hot water and one for
cold water, and a shower head. At the end of the room are the bathtubs,
usually at least two or three with different water temperatures, and maybe
also an electric bath. In the
Osaka and
Kansai area the bathtubs are more often found in the center of the
room, whereas in tokyo they are usually at the end of the room. The
separating wall between the men and the women side is also about 2m high,
wheras the ceiling may be 4m high, with large windows in the top. On rare
occasions the separating wall also has a small hole. This was used in old
times to pass the soap between family members, but nowadays most people
can afford a soap per family member. At the wall on the far end of the
room is usually a large picture for decoration. Most often this is
Mt. Fuji as seen in the picture above, but it may be a general
japanese landscape, an (faux) european landscape, a river or ocean scene.
On rarer occasions it may also show a group of warriors or a female nude
on the male side or playing children or a female beauty on the women side.
Boiler Room
Behind the bathing area is the boiler room (釜場, Kamaba) , where the
water is heated. This may use oil or electricity, or any other type of
fuel as for example wood chippings. After the war Tokyo often got power
outages when all bathhouse owners turned on the electric water heating at
the same time.
Sento Etiquette
NEVER EVER GET SOAP IN THE BATHTUB!
This section describes the basic procedure to use a sento. While the
Japanese are usually very understanding if foreigners make cultural
mistakes, the public bath is one area where the uninitiated can seriously
offend the regular customers.
Equipment
Taking a bath at a public sento requires at a bare minimum a small
towel and some
soap/shampoo.
Both can also be purchased at the attendant. Often, many people bring two
towels, a larger soft towel for drying and a smaller scrub towel (usually
nylon) for washing. Other body hygiene products may include a
pumice stone, toothbrush, toothpaste, shaving equipment, combs, shower
caps, pomade,
make up products, powder, creams, etc. Some customers also bring their
own bucket. You may also bring some drink, or a small toy for your
children.
Entering and Undressing
In Japan it is customary to take off your shoes when you enter a
private home. Similar in the sento you take off your shoes in the entrance
area and store them in the locker. The locker is usually available for
free. Afterwards you go through one of the two doors depending on your
gender. The men door usually has the
kanji for men (男, otoko) , whereas the women door usually has the
kanji for woman (女, onna) . In case of doubt wait for the next customer.
After entering you will find the attendant on the Bandai (stand) between
the two doors. Here you can pay the fee, which is usually between 300 and
600 yen. The attendant also sells you a wide variety of equipment like
towels, soap, shampoo, razor, comb, and other bath related items. Here you
can also pay for ice cream from the freezer. If the Bandai is not
particularly high please keep your eyes on your side.
After paying select an empty locker for clothes and undress. Take your
small towel, soap and shampoo, and depending on your preferences also your
razor, toothbrush, peeling stone, etc. and head to the bathing area.
Bathing area
After entering the bathing area, pick up one bucket and one stool and
select a free set of faucets. Before sitting you may quickly rinse the
stool. Some customers also use the bucket to get some water out of the
bathtub to quickly rinse their
genitals. Afterwards proceed to wash yourself at the faucet.
Use the towel to scrub your back, and use soap and shampoo liberally. Try
not to splash too much water on your neighbors. It is essential that you
are clean before entering the bathtub, as in Japan people wash themselves
outside of the bathtub and use the bathtub only for relaxation. When you
are clean store your equipment in your bucket and head towards the
bathtub.
Important: Make sure you are clean and do not have any
shampoo on you before entering the public bathtub. Keeping the water clean
is the one fundamental rule for Japanese bathing. Getting soap in the
bathtub will seriously offend all other customers, as will entering the
bathtub before washing yourself. In this case, the owner of the bathhouse
has to drain the bath, rinse it, and fill it again, loosing time, money
and customers. For the same reason you should keep your towel out of the
water, although some Japanese ignore this rule.
While it is essential to keep the water clean, there are occasionally
even Japanese people who enter the bathtub without washing previously.
This may be for example at an onsen, where the person has washed already
at a recent previous bath, or it may be an old man who thinks he can do it
anyway. Also, like everywhere else, Japanese are more likely to break the
rules if nobody is looking, as for example the less frequented and smaller
semi-public bath in a dormitory.
Anyway, for proper behavior you should clean before entering the bath.
Select a bath of your choice, depending on the temperature and the special
features like an electric bath. In the bath sit and relax as long as you
like. As the baths are usually quite hot, this may not be very long. Some
onsen are so hot that even experienced customers can stand only 3 to 5
minutes. Hot baths often have a ladle to stir the water. Please also note
that staying in hot water too long sometimes makes people faint. If you
want you can go out, cool down a bit with the colder water from the
faucet, and reenter the bath. Repeat as often as desired and then prepare
to leave.
In an onsen the water contains minerals, and many people do not rinse
off the water from the skin to increase exposure to the minerals. In a
regular sento you may rinse yourself off at the faucets. Afterwards you
dry yourself with your small towel while still in the bathing area. Wring
the towel out occasionally.
Getting Dressed and Leaving
In the changing room you may purchase a drink or some ice cream, have a
cigarette (if smoking is allowed) , relax by sitting near the garden, and
slowly get dressed. You may also use a coin operated massage chair. When
you get ready to leave you may get dressed. Women may opt to put on a make
up. After getting dressed make sure you did not forget anything, go to put
on your shoes, and leave.
Social and Cultural Aspects
Communication
The public bath is a very special area for communication and
interaction. In normal life, most people define themselves with their
clothes or makeup, which from the
psychological aspects is a layer of defense, giving a person a status,
or conveying a message or a statement. In the public bath, however,
everybody is naked, and clothes and make up cannot be used to distinguish
rank or social group. This
skinship lowers the communication barriers between usually different
social groups, and creates a lively athmosphere of communication.
In some cases, people are embarassed to be naked even in front of other
naked members of the same sex. This may reduce the level of communication.
However, usually a person can see that other people very rarely have a
perfect body, making them feel more confident about their own imperfect
body.
Small children before
puberty may join their parent of the opposite sex, interacting and
observing other members of the opposite sex. Many japanese people believe
that this contributes to the social education of the child.
Voyeurism and related
Problems
Whenever there are naked people, there is a risk of
Voyeurism. However, most customers at a public bath are regular
customers, and anything out of the ordinary gets noticed immedeately.
Furthermore, the bathouse owners do their utmost to prohibit voyerism to
protect their business, and subsequently there are rarely problems.
The attendant sitting on top of the bandai has a good view of both the
men and the women side, which is necessary to supervise the business. Yet
attendants usually watch TV or read a book and do not look at their
customers, again to protect their business and to make their customers
feel at ease. Most of the time the attendant is female, and very few male
customers have any problems with a female attendant. Male attendants are
less frequent, but may embarrass some female customers by their mere
presence.
Children before puberty can join their parent of the opposite sex.
However, some female customers, and occasionally male customers, feel that
some children may take too much interest in the
anatomy of the member of the other sex.
The above cases probably can not be considered voyeurism. True cases of
voyeurism are rare. Reported cases usually have a male voyeur and a female
victim. For example in 2001, a tall non-Japanese was able to see over the
separating wall between the men and the women side. Even though the women
splashed water on him he did not stop watching. He was subsequently
arrested by the police.
In another freakish case in 2003, a Japanese male with a female
complexity was dressing up as a woman, including make up, and entering the
women side of the bath. While naked he was holding his towel in front of
his
pubic area so he was able to pass as a woman. However, after pulling
this stunt for a few times a woman noticed that he was walking odd,
and he subsequently was arrested.
Nowadays there is also an increased risk from
video surveillance equipment. But as public baths are privately owned
and operated, it will be difficult for a perpetrator to install a camera.
The risk is higher at a larger business or an open air bath.
There is also the possibility that someone derives pleasure from
watching a member of the same sex. Yet these cases are probably difficult
to determine, and usually go unnoticed.
Foreigners
As mentioned above, the Japanese public bath is one area where the
uninitiated can seriously offend the regular customers by not following
the rules, in particularly by polluting the water in the bathtub. This
often causes increased nervousness with the attendants upon seeing an
unknown non-Japanese customer. Often the attendant has a poster with the
description of the bathing procedure in English for international
customers.
In some cases a bathhouse may not allow foreign customers at all. For
example some ports in
Hokkaido are frequently used by the
Russian navy. One sento had regular problems with drunk russian
soldiers misbehaving in the bath and subsequently allowed Japanese
customers only. This case took a strange turn when a
caucasian
american
citizen became a nationalized Japanese just to spite this sento. The
case went to court when the sento also prohibited the
caucasian]nationalized japanese from entering the bath. The sento
subsequently had to serve the nationalized Japanese. (See also
Ethnic issues in Japan)
There are also very rare cases where some conservative Japanese believe
in the purity and superiority of the Japanese race, and feel offended by
sharing the same bathtub with a supposedly less pure foreigner. However,
such
racist situations are very rare, and usually the offended party has no
choice but to keep his/her anger to him/herself or leave the bath.
History of the sento
The origins of the Japanese sento and the Japanese bathing culture in
general can be traced to the
budhist temples in
India, from where it spread to
China, and finally to Japan during the
Nara period (710
to 784
AD)
) .
Religious Bathing from the Nara period to Kamakura period
Initially, due to its religious background, baths in Japan were usually
found in a temple. These baths were called Yuya (湯屋, lit. Hot Water Shop)
, or later when they increased in size Oyuya (大湯屋, lit. Big Hot Water
Shop) . These baths were most often steam baths (Mushiburo, 蒸し風呂, lit.
Steam bath) . While initially these baths were only used by priests, sick
people gradually also gained access, until in the
Kamakura period (1185
to
1333
AD)
sick people were routinely allowed access to the bathhouse. Wealthy
merchants and members of the upper class soon also included baths in their
residences.
The
Start of the Commercial Baths during the Kamakura period
The first mentioning of a commercial bathouse is in
1266 in the Nichiren Goshoroku (日蓮御書録) . These mixed sex bathhouses
were only vaguely similar with modern bathhouses. After entering the bath
there was a changing room called Datsubai (脱衣場) . There the customer also
received his/her ration of hot water, since there were no faucets in the
actual bath. The entrance to the steam bath was only a very small opening
with a height of about 80cm, so that the heat did not escape. Due to the
small opening, the lack of windows, and the thick steam, these baths were
usually very dark, and customers often cleared their throats to signal
their position to others. It can safely be assumed that on occasions an
amorous couple used the dark room for more than mere bathing, and also
amorous singles may have less-than-accidentally bumped into members of the
other sex. Nevertheless, or maybe even especially because the very casual
atmosphere, the bath was considered a great place to just hang out and
chat. Most baths also had a salon on the second floor for resting.
Bathing in the Edo period
At the beginning of the
Edo period (1603
to
1867) , there were two types of baths common in different regions. In
Tokyo (then called Edo) , the normal bath was a regular bath with a pool
called Yuya (湯屋, lit. Hot Water Shop) , whereas in Osaka a bath was a
steam bath with only a shallow pool and was called Mushiburo (蒸し風呂, lit.
Steam bath) , or just Furo (風呂) . At the end of the Edo period, the
Tokugawa shogunate (1603
to
1868) at different times required baths to segregate by sex to
preserve public moral. However, many bathhouse owners simply added a small
board to separate the bath, with little effect for the preservation of
moral. Other baths had men and women bathe at different times or different
days, and some baths limited themselves entierely to female or male
clientele. The laws about mixed sex bathing were soon relaxed again. One
reason for the popularity of the baths were the female bathing attendants
Yuna (湯女, Lit. Hot Water Woman) . These attendants helped the customers by
scrubbing their backs. However, after the bath officially closed, many of
these women
sold sex to male customers. Even nowadays some brothels in Japan
specialize on having young women clean their male customers in a private
bath. These establishments are called Soopurando (ソープランド, lit. Soap Land)
. Subsequently, the Tokugawa shogunate limited the number of Yuna to three
per bath house to perserve the public moral. However, this rule was widely
ignored, and shortly thereafter in
1841 the Tokugawa shogunate prohibited any Yuna to serve in a
bathhouse, and furthermore prohibited mixed sex bathing again. Large
nubers of unemployed Yuna thereafter moved to the official redlight
districts to continue their services. Up to
1970 there were also male washing assistants called Sansuke (三助, lit.
Three Helps) for washing and massaging both male and female customers.
These male workers however usually did not participate in prostitution.
The prohibition of mixed sex bathing again did not last long, and when
Commodore Perry visited Japan in
1853 and
1854, he was displeased about the lack of moral due to mixed sex
bathing. Subsequently, the Tokugawa shogunate prohibited mixed sex bathing
again.
The Beginning of the modern Bathhouse in the Meiji Period
During the
Meiji period (1867-1912)
the design of Japanese baths changed considerably. The narrow entrance to
the bathing area was widened considerably to a regular sized sliding door,
the bathtubs were sunk partially in the floor so that they can be entered
easier, and the height of the ceiling of the bathhouse was nothing less
than doubled. Since the bath now focused on hot water instead of steam,
windows could be added, and the bathing area became much brighter. The
only difference of these baths to the modern bath was the use of wood for
the bathing area and the lack of faucets. Furthermore, another law for
segregated bathing was passed in
1890, allowing only children below the age of 8 to join a parent of
the opposite sex.
Rebuilding the Baths after the Great Kanto Earthquake
At the beginning of the
Taisho period (1912
to
1926) , tiles gradually replaced wooden floors and walls in new
bathhouses. On
September 1,
1923 the
Great Kanto earthquake devastated
Tokyo. The earthquake and the subsequent fire destroyed most baths in
the Tokyo area. This accelerated the change from wooden baths to tiled
baths, as almost all new bathhouses were now built in the new style using
tiled bathing areas. At the end of the Taisho period, faucets also became
more common, and this type of faucet can still be seen today. These
faucets were called Karan (カラン, after the
Dutch word kraan for faucet) . There were two faucets, one
for hot water and one for cold water, and the customer mixed the water in
his bucket according to his personal taste.
Rebuilding the Baths again after WW2: The Golden Era of the Sento
During
World War II (for Japan
1941 to
1945) , many Japanese cities were
firebombed, and
Hiroshima and
Nagasaki were
nuked. Subsequently, most bathhouses were destroyed along with the
cities. The lack of baths caused the reappearance of communal bating, and
temporary baths were constructed with the availabe material, often lacking
a roof. Furthermore, as most houses were damaged or destroyed, few people
had access to a private bath, resulting in a great increase in customers
for the bath houses. New buildings in the post war period also often
lacked baths or showers, leading to a strong increase in the number of
public baths. In
1965 many baths also added showerheads to the faucets in the baths.
The number of public baths in Japan peaked around
1970
The Decline of
the Sento in the Modern Times
While immediately after World War II, resources were scarce, and few
homeowners had access to a private bath, private baths became more common
again around
1970, and most new buildings included a bath and shower unit for every
apartment. The availability and easy access of private baths lead to a
decline of customers for public bathhouses, and subsequently the number of
bathhouses is decreasing. Furthermore, many young people are
embarrassed to be naked even in front of members of the same sex, and
do not go to public baths. Some Japanese are concerned that without the
skinship of mutual nakedness, children will not be properly socialized
Phoenix Reborn: The
Future of the sento
While the traditional sento is in decline, many bathhouse operators
have adjusted to the new taste of the public and are offering a wide
variety of services. Some bathhouses emphasize their tradition, and run
traditional designed bathhouses to appeal to clientele seeking for the
lost Japan. These bathhouses are also often located at scenic spots in
nature and may include an open air bath. Some also try drilling in order
to gain access to a hot spring, turning a regular bathhouse into a more
prestigious
onsen.
Other bathhouses with less pristine buildings or settings change into
so called super sento and try to offer a wider vairety of services beyond
the standard two or three bathtubs. They may include a variety of
saunas, reintroduce steam baths, include jacuzzi, and may even have a
water slide. They may also offer services beyond mere cleansing and turn
into a
spa, offering medical baths, massages, fango baths, fitness centers,
etc., as for example the Spa La Qua near the Tokyo Dome. There
are also entire bathhouse theme parks, including restaurants,
karaoke, and other entertainment, as for example the Oedo Onsen
Monogatari (Big Edo Hot Spring Story) in
Odaiba, Tokyo. Some of these modern facilities may require the use of
swimsuits and are more similar with a western style water amusement park
than a sento.
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