Since time immemorial ‘onsen’ or natural hot spring have been prized by the Japanese for their salutary effects on both body and spirit. When early hunters came across injured deer or other animals nursing their wounds in hot-spring pools they took instruction from nature and followed course. Calling these springs kami no yu, or ‘divine bath,’ they believed the waters had the power to cure illness. For this reason, the origins of many hot springs are attributed in legend and folklore to kindly saints of healing or holy men of exceptional virtue.
For example, many of the hot springs are alleged to have been discovered or created by the monk Cybki, best known for supervising the construction of the great bronze statue of the Buddha in Nara at the behest of Emperor Shomu in the middle of the eighth century. He was considered qualified for that massive undertaking by the sanctity acquired in his lifelong career of good deeds. Chief among these were his legendary feats of bringing forth healing hot water from rocks as he traveled on foot all over Japan. Kobo Darshi (774—835), an equally saintly figure in Japanese history and founder of the Shingon sect of Japanese Buddhism, was also believed to have created many hot springs in his wanderings as a mendicant monk. Frequently, according to popular belief he would encounter diseased or freezing beggars along the road and, feeling compassion for their plight, would strike his staff upon a rock from which a warm sprung would miraculously issue forth. Doctors ministering both to the physical ailments of court nobility in Kyoto and to the mysterious depressions or “demonic possessions” that afflicted their spirits would prescribe rehabilitation at a hot spring far from the city. No doubt the fresh food of the countryside and the tranquility of the natural environment proved as beneficial as the healing properties of the mineral waters. To anyone able to afford the leisure and the travel, visits to hot springs such as Arima, Tamatsukuri, and Iyo, which had been popular since long before the court was established at Kyoto in 794, were eagerly sought-after retreats from everyday life. The less affluent found equal relaxation and pleasure at hot springs closer to home.
The Japanese were doing some ritual bathing by at least A.D. 297, the beginning of the Tumulus or Kofun, period. This bathing was for purification after defiling themselves by coming into contact with the dead. During this period the first historical record of bathing in Japan was established. Iwaburo (literally “rock bath”) and kamaburo (oven bath) are the oldest types of man made baths discovered in Japan. Iwaburo, located primarily around Japan’s Inland Sea, are found in many of the ports on the main islands Shikoku, Kyushu, and Honshu as well as on smaller islands. On Shikoku, the iwaburo extended inland along rivers and are also found on the Pacific side of the island. The iwaburo was a natural cave, a small cavern carved into rock, or a small structure made of rocks and covered with earth. An example of the cavern style is the Sakuraj bath in Ehime prefecture - one of the few that has remained in constant use. Burning wood inside the iwaburo for several hours heated the rock walls and ceiling. After the iwaburo reached a suitable temperature, seawater was poured on the hot rocks, creating a steam bath. These baths remained popular for hundreds of years; by the end of the Edo period (1868), tens of thousands of the baths are reported to have existed. Use of these baths virtually ceased at the beginning of the Meiji era, after 1868, although recently several iwaburo have been restored and are in use today.
These iwaburo vary in size. The Sakurai bath is approximately 7.9 meters long, 3 meters high, and as wide as 3.3 meters. A smaller iwaburo at Koi in Hiroshima is roughly 3.6 meters long by 1.2 meters high by 3 meters wide. Before the start of the Meiji period, bathing at Sakurai was sexually mixed; later a segregated, smaller women’s bath was constructed. The sheer number of various types of steam baths at this time suggests that the use of bathing was widespread especially as indicated by the archaeological remains. The frequency of bathing however is unknown. Some of the early writings tell of auspicious and inauspicious days for bathing. Court nobility supposedly followed these admonitions to ensure good fortune. Whether they actually conformed to these instructions and to what degree is unknown.
The kamaburo, or oven baths, were located inland. They were constructed with rocks and clay in the shape of a large kiln or oven. As with the iwaburo, wood was burned inside the bath; in this case, however, the moisture from green branches and leaves provided the steam, reputed to have health benefits. The earliest use recorded for kamaburo was by the Emperor Temmu in approximately 672, when he rose to power. The emperor once went to a kamburo to recuperate after receiving an arrow wound to the back during battle. The site of this bath came to be called “Yase,” originally spelled with the characters “ya” (arrow) and “se” (back). Today Yase, near Kyoto, is written differently but is still known for its famous baths. The iwaburo and kamaburo are functionally very similar, working with heat and steam rather than immersion in hot water. It is not clear from the earliest records if washing with water accompanied the use of these baths. In later diaries and records, the terms “iwaburo” and kamaburo” are used interchangeably and another term for the same type of bath, karaburo appeared. Karaburo has been written with several different combinations of ideograms (and thus slightly different meanings) and is phonetically similar to other words that indicate continental origins.
Historians contend that bathing for ceremonial purposes in India and the related attitudes developed there and spread with Buddhism into Tibet and Turkestan, and then finally into China and Japan, where they mingled with native customs. The importation and development of Buddhism in Japan from the sixth century onward had a profound influence on the public bathhouses that is still apparent today. At the large Buddhist temple compounds there were seven primary buildings. One of these was a bathhouse for the ritual washing of the Buddha statues and the monk’s purification ablutions. At first only the monks used these baths; later, common people were invited to use them. The temple bath’s popularity eventually caused larger baths to be constructed solely for the use of commoners. Many rulers and rich men, in order to display the Buddhist virtues of piety and charity, sponsored baths where the common people could wash without charge. An eighth century legend tells of the Empress Komyo vowing to personally wash a thousand beggars at the bath at Horyuji Temple in Nara in order to obtain religious merit.
In ancient times shogun, upon arising from the bath, were not dried with towels but rather dressed in heavy white robes called yukata that would soak up the moisture until he was dry. During the Kamakura period (1185—1392), the wearing of the yukatabira ceased except for religious purposes, but the bathers still wore some clothing. For the men this was a loincloth (fundoshi) and for the women a wraparound skirt (koshimaki). Once common undergarments, both are sometimes still used with traditional Japanese clothing and in hospitals. Early European visitors to Japan were sometimes shocked by the almost total nudity of men wearing only a fundoshi in public. During the Edo period, the wearing of clothing in the bath was abandoned entirely.
The offshoot of public bathhouses in Japan as distinguished from the temple baths—is not clear. Writings by court nobles indicate that some form of public bath may have existed as early as the beginning of the eleventh century. After the beginning of the Ashikaga period, many nobles were using public baths. To avoid pollution by contact with common people, nobles would rent the baths temporarily for their private use.
For example, many of the hot springs are alleged to have been discovered or created by the monk Cybki, best known for supervising the construction of the great bronze statue of the Buddha in Nara at the behest of Emperor Shomu in the middle of the eighth century. He was considered qualified for that massive undertaking by the sanctity acquired in his lifelong career of good deeds. Chief among these were his legendary feats of bringing forth healing hot water from rocks as he traveled on foot all over Japan. Kobo Darshi (774—835), an equally saintly figure in Japanese history and founder of the Shingon sect of Japanese Buddhism, was also believed to have created many hot springs in his wanderings as a mendicant monk. Frequently, according to popular belief he would encounter diseased or freezing beggars along the road and, feeling compassion for their plight, would strike his staff upon a rock from which a warm sprung would miraculously issue forth. Doctors ministering both to the physical ailments of court nobility in Kyoto and to the mysterious depressions or “demonic possessions” that afflicted their spirits would prescribe rehabilitation at a hot spring far from the city. No doubt the fresh food of the countryside and the tranquility of the natural environment proved as beneficial as the healing properties of the mineral waters. To anyone able to afford the leisure and the travel, visits to hot springs such as Arima, Tamatsukuri, and Iyo, which had been popular since long before the court was established at Kyoto in 794, were eagerly sought-after retreats from everyday life. The less affluent found equal relaxation and pleasure at hot springs closer to home.