REKIHAKU

No.142 A Witness to History

Bathhouses in the Early Modern period

Taking a bath feels good when one has been sweating or feels cold.

The Japanese word for bath "furo" is a corruption of the word "muro" meaning rocky cavern. In the Early Modern period the word "furo" was used in western Japan, while the word "yu", meaning "hot water" was used in eastern Japan. In Edo a bathhouse was called either a "yuya" or a "sento".

Okamoto Kido writes the following in "Tokyo Fuzoku Judai" ("Ten Tokyo Customs").

The recent increase in the number of people who refer to "yuya" as "furoya" tells us of the changes that have occurred with Tokyo bathhouses. Of course, long ago they were known by names such as "tanzen buro", and at that time were also called "furoya" in Tokyo. However, at some time or other the name disappeared, and now with the only vestige being Shikitei Sanba's "Ukiyoburo", the people of Edo have become accustomed to using the words "yuya" and "sento".

Kido, who studied history with a critical eye, probably could not tolerate the use of the word "furoya" in a historical novel set in Edo. Let us take our own look at Edo bathhouses of the Early Modern period?

Broadly speaking, baths were steam baths. It is said that bathhouses were first built in Edo between 1590-1591, when a man called Ise-no-Yoichi opened a bathhouse in Zenigamebashi in Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku. This bath would have been a steam bath.

Although it is not certain when it became common to get into a bath full of hot water, today when we think of bathhouses of the Early Modern period it seems only natural that they would have got into a hot bath. We assume this because at that time these bathhouses had become known as "yuya" and "sento".

Even though they were bathhouses, it wasn't as if they had bathtubs like those of today. The bathtub was positioned within an enclosure inside the bathhouse. Customers entered this enclosure by bending, and in the Edo period this entrance was called a "zakuro-guchi" meaning "pomegranate entrance". It was called this because the word for bending to enter the enclosure ("kagami-iru") had the same pronunciation as a word meaning to forge a mirror. Forging a mirror was the same as polishing a mirror, and vinegar from pomegranates was used to polish mirrors.

Kurabegoshi Yukinoyanagi-yu (Museum collection)

One work held at Rekihaku associated with the Edo "yuya" is "Kurabegoshi Yukinoyanagi-yu", a nishiki-e in three sections painted by Ikkeisai Yoshiiku. Despite having the characters for "furo" (bath) in the title, the picture depicts a scene in a "yuya" (bathhouse). Although the seal identifies it as having been printed in 1868, because it is a good representation of what a bathhouse was like in the Early Modern period, we will draw on it, as well as Kitagawa Morisada's "Kinsei Fuzoku Shi" ("Customs of the Early Modern Period"), for the following study of bathhouses of the late Early Modern period.

In the nishiki-e a woman at the entrance to the bathhouse with a towel over her shoulder has left money wrapped in paper on the counter. It was not normal to give money wrapped in paper. This was done on special days for bathhouses, which were called "monbi" or "monobi".

There were around 20 such special days throughout the year, such as New Year's Day through January 7, "Hatsuuma" in February, "Tango no Sekku" in May, the winter solstice in the eleventh month and the day of "susuharai" in the twelfth month. On such days customers brought with them 12 mon wrapped in paper. Of these "monbi", January 16 and July 16 were called "morai-yu", and on these days the bathhouse's income was given to the bath attendants employed there.

Clothing has been put into baskets in the changing room, though there is also a cupboard beside the counter with the hiragana character "wa" written on it. Clothing was also placed in this cupboard. Each basket was probably put inside the cupboard because leaving one's clothing in a basket was not considered safe. Sometimes, theft occurred in the changing room, and theft from a changing room was called "itanomabataraki". This type of theft, which happened often, occurred when someone who arrived at the bathhouse wearing a shabby kimono changed into an expensive kimono they had found there and then walked back out into the street.

Green bamboo is laid on the floor at the boundary separating the changing room from the washing area. This was most probably for channeling away water that fell from the legs of customers just out of the bath.

Although we don't know the reason, the picture shows a huge fight going on in the bathhouse. Behind the fighting women we can see a woman bending as she comes out from an enclosure painted in red. This is the "pomegranate entrance".

According to "Miyako-no-Hirune", "The inside of the bath is narrow and the bottom deep, with nowhere to sit down. Moreover, because the water is hot, one only wets one's body. It is so dark inside that even during the day one cannot see the faces of others". According to this description, if one were not careful children could be drowned or boiled. Bathhouses with a "pomegranate entrance" appear to have had a steam bath and a bath full of hot water.

After getting out of the bathtub one finally washed one's body in the washing area, though of course they did not use soap. Bran was the cleaning agent used when bathing. Bathers used bran by means of a bran bag, and nearly all women brought their own bags. Although it was possible to rent a bran bag from the counter, customers had to buy the bran. The bran cost about 4 mon, though after 1866 it cost as much as 12 mon. Whereas in Edo it was not necessary to return the bran bag, they were returned in Kyoto and Osaka.

Men did not use bran bags very much -- only 2 to 3 out of every 10 men used them. It probably would not have looked good for a man to walk into a bathhouse carrying a bran bag. When the bran bags had been used they were discarded in bran boxes, and in the nishiki-e we can see a box with "bran bags" written on it.

In the washing area there are round pails and large tubs shaped like an oval gold coin. These tubs were known as "tomeoke". The pails were around 18 centimeters high and the same in diameter, while the tubs were around 18 centimeters high and were either 24 or 30 centimeters in diameter.

The tubs were for use by either an individual or a family. Although we are not sure of the kind of procedure that took place to be able to use a tub, we do know that a new tub was bought every year before the 20th day of the 10th month. A notice to this effect was written on paper and pasted on the wall of the bathhouse, and tub users would pay the fee for a new tub when they saw this notice. There wasn't a set price for a tub, and while some paid with a gold coin, there were other customers who paid several hundred mon, with the minimum being 200 mon. Because the amounts paid by customers for purchasing a new tub were posted for all to see, there were probably more than a few customers who used the occasion to show off by paying a handsome price for theirs.

It was customary for customers to give bathhouse employees a gratuity of 200 mon on New Year's Day, Joushi (March 3), Tango no Sekku (May 5), Tanabata (July 7) and Choyo (September 9). When these customers got in the bath the employees would wash their backs using two pails and a tub full of hot water.

It appears that instead of paying a gratuity on a special day, customers paid money at the counter at the end of the month, though it also appears that this varied according to region. In other words, it cost a certain amount of money to use a "tomeoke". The picture shows a child in a "tomeoke". Parents often used them because people who brought young children with them would put them in a "tomeoke".

As with the bran bags, it was mainly women who used "tomeoke", with 9 out of every 10 women using one, whereas men hardly used them at all.

There are various kinds of advertisements posted on the walls of the washing area. Two advertisements especially for the women's bath are one for "Choji-yu" hair oil and another for a scented face powder. Others include those for joruri and war tales, and even one for the rakugo artist Sanyutei Encho.

After scrubbing oneself with a bran bag, a bather rinsed his/her body with clean water ("agari-yu" or "oka-yu"), which was located on the right side of the "pomegranate entrance". Above the water there is a sign that says, "Please use as much water as you like." This completed the bathing process.

Although not depicted in the nishiki-e, bathhouses had rooms on the second floor. However, the stairs leading to the second floor were only in the men's bathing area. By paying some money bathers were able to relax here and drink tea, play Japanese chess and go, and gossip with one another. This second floor was also used for poetry gatherings and lessons in go and ikebana.

The following is written in the "Mandan Meiji Shonen" published in 1926 about bathhouses with "pomegranate entrances".

Bathhouses with "pomegranate entrances" from the old days all have two floors. There was a woman at the counter and they sold confectionery and the like. Around the year ..., bathhouses with "pomegranate entrances" were still popular. ... in those days when one crawled through the "pomegranate entrance" there was only a single lantern lit and it was very steamy and unhygienic. No matter how hot the water was it did not circulate, and as we were children we grabbed onto the bathtub but did not get in. It was a very casual affair.

"Tokaidochu Hizakurige" ("Traveling the Tokaido by Shanks' Pony") (Museum collection)

According to "Tokyo Fuzoku Shi" ("Chronicles of Tokyo Customs"), baths like those of today were first built around 1877, with the first being one opened in Renjaku-cho, Kanda by a man called Tsuruzawa Monzaemon.

In urban areas like Edo, Kyoto and Osaka nearly all bathhouses had a "pomegranate entrance". While ordinary urban dwellers went to the bathhouse, there were some households that built their own baths in their homes. It was usual for these home baths to be tubs.

Goemon-style baths were used throughout the country. While the Goemon-style baths around today are shaped like pots and are made of steel, due to the high price of steel during the Edo period the bottom part of the tubs were made of clay, underneath which there was a wood fire. Because one would burn one's legs if one got into such a bath, people would push the lid floating on top of the bath down to the bottom.

Yajirobe and Kitahachi who appear in the "Tokaidochu Hizakurige" ("Traveling the Tokaido by Shank's Pony") experienced a Goemon-style bath for the first time when they stayed at an inn at the Odawara station along the Tokaido. Instead of sitting on the lid and sinking down into the bath, they took off the lid and got directly into the bath. Of course, they quickly jumped out because of the heat, but then got in after putting on geta (wooden clogs) that were near the bath. However, while in the bath, Kitahachi hit the bottom a number of times with his geta, accidentally knocking out the bottom.

In the "Konpira Sankei Zoku Hizakurige" ("Pilgrimage to Konpira by Shanks' Pony") the two men encountered their second Goemon-style bath. After arriving in Marugame the pair settled in at an inn where the Goemon-style bath was an unglazed jar. According to the diagram the jar was about 3 centimeters thick, and had a height and diameter of just under 1 meter. The water was heated by placing it on a stove. Worried that he might knock out the bottom again, Kitahachi did not get into the water, but used it to wash his body.

There were also barrel-shaped steam baths. One such bath was called a "kago-buro". Hot water was poured into a tub shaped like a barrel, which was heated from below. One got into the tub and steamed one's body by covering the tub with a lid woven from straw that was shaped like a straw hat. With this kind of bath one could get away with using a minimum amount of water and firewood.

Let us now look at an example of a daimyo, or feudal lord. When a daimyo went to Edo where he lived half of the time he would take a bathtub with him. This was a round flattish vessel, which was kept at a bathhouse. The daimyo used his bath once it had been filled with hot water that had reached the appropriate temperature.

In Japan where there is high humidity it is only natural that people like taking baths. The number of public bathhouses has declined dramatically today, because most homes have their own baths. Meanwhile, large-scale bathing facilities that go by names such as "Spaland", "Kurhaus" and "Super Sento" have been built all over the country. No matter how westernized the daily lives of Japanese become, it would seem that when it comes to bathing, they still prefer the baths they've been using since the Early Modern period.

Mitsumasa Yamamoto(Modern Japanese History, Research Department)