The History of Japanese Bath

Japanese like to take a bath, but I don't know about the history of Japanese bath. I looked into it on the internet.

In the sixth century, a bath came from China with Buddhism. Buddhist priests told people that taking a bath got rid of 7 diseases and obtained 7 fortunes instead and allowed them to take a bath together there to spread Buddhism.

People thought taking a bath was good for the health. This type was a steamed sauna in a room of the temple, they wore a special clothes.

This is the start of a bath history. Here is a photo of those days.

In the samurai period from "Kamakura" to "Edo", the old sauna style was gradually changed from a sauna to the mixed way between a sauna and a bath with a lot of steams from poring water onto roasted stones and hot water in the bottom of a bathtub. It was a very cold period and very important to get warm from a bath. Not only temples, but shogun families started taking a bath in their houses individually to welcome their low-class samurais. They treated their subordinates with a bath, dishes and alcohol, too.

And in "Edo" period, public baths opened from the morning to the evening, too.  They were a place people could be relaxed and talk for each other while being naked, though they were mixed ones for both men and women, but there were not much water in a bathtub according to the lower photo.

In the "Meiji" period (1868-1912), the bath style was definitely changed from a Edo-style to a bathtub that can be filled with hot water. And it's an almost current public bath.

Each family had got its own bathtub gradually.

This is old typed home bathtub, called "Goemon-buro".

A bath tub is made of iron and we put water into it and fire woods under it.

We need the round-shaped sheet of woods inside it to put on when we take a bath. Unless we have it, we will get burned soon. And when it was rainy, we had occasions we couldn't burn woods outside, so we couldn't take a bath on those days.

Take a look at Goemon-buro.

After the "Showa" period, we have many kinds of bathes and various ways to enjoy them.

I will explain about recent bathes both for home use and for recreation facilities in Japan next.  

 

日本人って、どうしてこんなにお風呂が好きなんだろうなって思い、風呂を入る習慣っていつ頃から始まったんだろうって好奇心から調べてみました。
結構、私は面白いって思ったので、ここで少しご紹介。

６世紀に、中国から仏教とともに入って来た当時のお風呂は、仏教の布教の場だったそうです。「お風呂に入ることは七病を除き、七福が得られる」と説かれていて、お風呂に入ることは健康に良いと理解されていました。ただ、当時のお風呂は写真にあるように、一部屋に集められて、専用の服を着た状態で入るサウナのようなものでした。

それが鎌倉時代に入り、すごく寒い時代であったのと、暖房設備も乏しかったので、お風呂は寒さを防ぐ大切な手段であったようです。寺院だけでなく、幕府にも、そして次第に個人にもこのお風呂を入る習慣は受け継がれていくようになりました。部下や近所の人を呼んで、お風呂とそのあとのお食事を振る舞っていたそうです。

江戸時代に入ると、朝から夕方までやっている銭湯が登場。熱く焼いた小石の上に水をかけて湯気を出し、上半身を蒸らし、浴槽に膝の高さ程お湯を入れ、下半身を浸す仕組みのサウナ+下半身浴スタイル。上下の区別なく、裸の付き合いが出来る庶民の憩いの場となっていたそうです。この時期の銭湯は、男女混浴だったみたいです。背中を洗ってくれる湯女も現れ、風紀を乱すことも少なくなかったそうです。

明治時代では、混浴だったのが、男女別々に分け、洗い場も広くなり、汚れた水が入りにくく改良され、今のお風呂となったそうです。
そして我らも本や、実際に見たことがある五右衛門風呂の登場となるなるんですよね～。
五右衛門風呂は見たことはあるけれど、実際に入ったことがありません。お湯加減、難しそうですね・・・。

次は、今時の日本のお風呂について、海外のお友達に紹介しようと思っています。
では、また～。