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Classical Period: Evolution of Asian Hot Tub Construction
Hot tubs from this period were made of wood and later iron. The existence of wooden hot tubs tubs in the Classical Period is known through drawings and descriptions of the hot tubs in the royal court, where tubs were used in rituals such as the ablutions for the Great Thanksgiving Festival (Daijosai), following the enthronement of an emperor, as well as for daily baths. Servants heated water in vessels outside the bathroom wall and then piped the hot water into the tub.
At the beginning of the Kamakura period (1185) the iron bath became common. These iron baths resembled the huge pots one sees in cartoons where cannibals are boiling missionaries. Often this type was heated directly by a fire underneath; at other times water was heated in other vessels and then transferred to the tub. These tubs ranged in size from small ones that would admit just one person at a time to large ones that would accommodate several people at once. A large iron tub placed in the bath of the Todaiji Temple at the time of its rebuilding was first recorded in 1203.
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