Changes

Early European visitors to Japan commented on baths and bathing practices there, finding them unusual and surprising, given that Europeans themselves very rarely bathed at that time. Natural hot springs can be found throughout Japan, and baths for relaxation or therapeutic purposes with either geothermally or artificially heated water remain strongly associated with Japan today.

Early European visitors to Japan commented on baths and bathing practices there, finding them unusual and surprising, given that Europeans themselves very rarely bathed at that time. Natural hot springs can be found throughout Japan, and baths for relaxation or therapeutic purposes with either geothermally or artificially heated water remain strongly associated with Japan today.

Several key developments in bathing culture emerged in the late medieval period (though it's not clear exactly when). Firstly, bathing first began to be seen as a communal experience and as a social activity. Second, bathing at this time first came to be associated with physical cleanliness and not merely spiritual purification or therapeutic purposes. Scholar Lee Butler suggests that hygienic bathing, that is, bathing with the explicit idea in mind of physical cleanliness, likely emerged or grew to wide popularity (among those of the elite classes who had access to baths) in the 15th-16th centuries. However, prior to the [[Edo period]], it is difficult to find explicit references to this in diaries or other materials. When courtiers or other elites write of visiting a friend's bath for a social event, they often speak of relaxation, or recuperation, but not explicitly of getting clean.

Several key developments in bathing culture emerged in the late medieval period (though it's not clear exactly when). Firstly, bathing first began to be seen as a communal experience and as a social activity. Second, bathing at this time first came to be associated with physical cleanliness and not merely spiritual purification or therapeutic purposes. Scholar Lee Butler suggests that hygienic bathing, that is, bathing with the explicit idea in mind of physical cleanliness, likely emerged or grew to wide popularity (among those of the elite classes who had access to baths) in the 15th-16th centuries. However, prior to the [[Edo period]], it is difficult to find explicit references to this in diaries or other materials. When courtiers or other elites write of visiting a friend's bath for a social event, they often speak of relaxation, or recuperation, but not explicitly of getting clean.

In the 14th-15th centuries, it became popular among elites to hold social bathing events closely associated with Buddhist spiritual benefit. People would be invited to an elite person's private bath, or to a temple's bath, for a private, exclusive event at which they would also light incense, give offerings, say prayers or chants, and in doing so earn spiritual merit. The phenomenon of owning a private bath within one's house (or its grounds) also expanded dramatically in the 15th century.

In the 14th-15th centuries, it became popular among elites to hold social bathing events closely associated with Buddhist spiritual benefit. People would be invited to an elite person's private bath, or to a temple's bath, for a private, exclusive event at which they would also light [[incense]], give offerings, say prayers or chants, and in doing so earn spiritual merit. The phenomenon of owning a private bath within one's house (or its grounds) also expanded dramatically in the 15th century.

In post-[[Onin War|Ônin War]] Kyoto, when so many communal baths, temples and the like had been destroyed, it became common among courtiers and Buddhist priests to bring wood to social bathing gatherings, such that everyone contributed to heating the bath, in an activity known as ''gômokuburo'' (合木風呂, "coming-together wood bath").

In post-[[Onin War|Ônin War]] Kyoto, when so many communal baths, temples and the like had been destroyed, it became common among courtiers and Buddhist priests to bring wood to social bathing gatherings, such that everyone contributed to heating the bath, in an activity known as ''gômokuburo'' (合木風呂, "coming-together wood bath").

Though natural hot springs, and the bathing facilities associated with them, could be found farther afield, it seems that up until the Edo period, Kyoto and the so-called "Home Provinces" or [[Kinai]] were the chief center of activity for public and private baths. Lee Butler notes that it was only when the political/military action of the [[Sengoku period]] came to be more focused on Kyoto after [[1568]] that the samurai class engagement in bathing begins to appear in written sources.

Though natural hot springs, and the bathing facilities associated with them, could be found farther afield, it seems that up until the Edo period, Kyoto and the so-called "Home Provinces" or [[Kinai]] were the chief center of activity for public and private baths. Lee Butler notes that it was only when the political/military action of the [[Sengoku period]] came to be more focused on Kyoto after [[1568]] that the samurai class engagement in bathing begins to appear in written sources.

[[Oda Nobunaga]]'s [[Azuchi castle]] did not include bathing facilities, but [[Toyotomi Hideyoshi]] included a steam bath in his [[Jurakutei]], which was then moved to [[Nishi Honganji]] when the Jurakutei was demolished.

[[Oda Nobunaga]]'s [[Azuchi castle]] did not include bathing facilities, but [[Toyotomi Hideyoshi]] included a steam bath in his [[Jurakutei]], which was then moved to [[Nishi Honganji]] when the Jurakutei was demolished. Baths were popular enough among the samurai class by this point that during [[Korean Invasions|Hideyoshi's invasions of Korea in the 1590s]], his generals built baths in the military camps; [[Kato Kiyomasa|Katô Kiyomasa]] is known to have even built one on a ship. [[Tokugawa Ieyasu]], likewise, had baths built in many of his residences; one was even made of mulberry wood brought back from Mexico by the merchant [[Tanaka Shosuke|Tanaka Shôsuke]] in 1610.

==Edo Period==

==Edo Period==

By the beginning of the Edo period, however, bathing had begun to be associated directly with the practice of getting clean, i.e. removing physical dirt or grime from one's body. As early as 1603,

The urbanization and growth of the commoner class of townspeople (''[[chonin|chônin]]'') or merchants saw the dramatic expansion of bathhouses and bathing on a commoner/popular level.

*''[[yuna]]''

One popular phenomenon often seen in ''[[ukiyo-e]]'' prints which emerged in the Edo period was the "bathhouse girl," or ''[[yuna]]'' 湯女.

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