FOR THE RESERVED BRITISH GENTLEMEN, the only occasion they are accustomed to ever whipping their kit off with the ‘lads’ was to scrape the cold mud off after a wet game of Rugby in their youth…

 …And most of the time during these sessions the smaller, skinnier runts of the litter would keep their undergarments firmly secured in place in an effort to avoid any possibility of a public ridicule in front of their mates.

Yet on an island roughly twice as large as the UK and around a 12-hour flight across the globe, the approach to bathing has not changed in Millenia. Steeped in tradition, the Japanese style of bathing follows a strict routine to ensure the bather is left properly cleansed both physically and spiritually.

Whilst nudity is often subject of taboo in the UK, in Japan it bears a very different picture.  

Now this does not mean it is actively encouraged in public, rather it is widely practiced behind the sliding paper doors of the thousands of Onsens scattered across this volcanic nation.

Once shrouded in mystery, Japan has proved a hotbed for international tourism over the last few years.

The country has encouraged the flow of foreign visitors and with it, translated its intimidating ‘Kanji’, ‘Katakana’ or ‘Hiragana’ into snippets of often humorously misspelt English, accompanied with even more comedic signage to compliment them.

It was also Japan, a relative minnow in the traditional English game, that became the flag-bearer for the greatest event in Rugby’s calendar last year, as the host of the Rugby World Cup. It was this auspicious event that enabled the timid and shy tourists to get involved in the traditional and widely practiced naked bathing. One of the only major changes over the years has been a slow segregation of the Female and Male baths. Other than that everything has remained very similar.

The Onsen concept is simple: harness the natural heat from the land and strip off to bathe in its water.

The routine begins with the bathers being handed a simple set of Kimono, slippers and a bathing towel at the entrance of the Onsen. The bather then makes their way to the respective gendered changing room and removes all their belongings, undergarments and all, keeping only the small bathing hand towel with them.

The bather then makes their way to the showering area. In contrast to the homogenous white tiled standing showers of the youth level Rugby, the Japanese prefer to be seated whilst taking the shower.

Before sitting down, you must take the small basin from your booth and fill it with hot water to rinse off your stall. Once prepped you sit down on the precariously low stall and begin the relaxing lathering of shampoos, conditioners, body wash, shaving, exfoliating scrubs... the lot.

You can also clean your teeth, in order to make chatting in the steam rooms more pleasant for all parties involved!

Having been sufficiently scrubbed, one proceeds to dip from bath to bath, each with a melange of different minerals and temperatures to relax in blissful serenity, whilst soaking up the apparent goodness of the different minerals.

The frequent bathing in these pools is claimed to have many physical benefits, such as improving circulation and helping with dermatosis. The process of making the bather so calm in mind provides excellent spiritual medicine in itself.

As with most traditions there are a variety of different protocols and rituals the Japanese follow…

…and the tourists haphazardly try to follow, learning only when they have done something incorrectly when the discerning eye of an established bather gives a scornful look: Keeping the hand-towel out of the water is a classic example, I am more accustomed to using a flannel in a bath, to scrub the body, whereas the Japanese would baulk at such buffoonery choosing instead to keep the towel out of the water, placing it on their heads when sitting meditatively in the pools. 

It is these rituals, built up and honed over many centuries that provides a good metaphor for Japan in general. The country prides itself on developing their craft through methodical practice, enabling them to create something looking and feeling so simple, yet when one attempts to replicate it, will be dumbfounded by the difficulty in trying to achieve a result even markedly close. 

Traditional Onsens differ from the more mainstream Sentos. The water for the baths has to come from a natural heat source and contain 1 of the 19 designated natural minerals. In Japan, hot springs are plentiful, making natural Onsens commonplace, but there was one I visited on my trip to Japan that deserves special mention, located in the Nothern Island of Hokkaido.

Hokkaido is in the Northern Island and did not form part of modern day Japan until later in the nations history. It therefore retains some of the serenity and peacefulness harder to come by in the expansive reaches of the cosmopolitan areas on the Southern Island of Kyushu.

The Marukoma Onsen sits on the shore of Lake Shikotsu, underneath the imposing active volcano of Mount Eniwa.

It is this volcanic activity that formed the lake and also heats the water that feeds the Onsen. A low key, basic Onsen in comparison to many other Onsens on offer in Hokkaido, it is this simplicity that adds to its beauty. A wooden structure from the showering area of the Onsen leads the bather down towards the lake.

From there, a small pool has been created out of the volcanic rocks. The bather is then able to sit in the pool filled with small pebbles (surprisingly I found no other Onsens I visited included pebbles), secluded from the view of any onlookers by low hanging trees. You look across the lake to the other active volcano across the lake, Mt Turamae.

Whilst the memories of England’s swift and brutal exit from the Rugby World Cup has quickly passed from my mind, the memories of the blissfulness of the Japanese Onsen shall endure.

by Rufus Gould

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