Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-06-07
Bathing Stories from Japan.
Interesting Reading.
WATER OF HIGH TEMPERATURE.
Foreigners Astonished to See Men, Women
and Children Bathing in One Large
Tub-The Indifference to
Nudity Shown.
Correspondence photographic Press.

goGlineSS. Iney make cleanliness the IlrSI
OF all virtues, and the daily bath the hrst
of all duties. While New York has had tc
wait until Che year 1891, before project
was started for supplying the great IN
washed with baths at reasonable rate,
the metropolis of Japan has offered such
opportunities as far back as the records go.
Toxic has to-day about 500 public baths, IN
which 100000 persons, or almost third OF
the population battle every day, at the cost
of one cent for each hot bath; and besides
this every family, except some of the very
poorest, has its own private bathroom III
the house, or at least q tub and plenty OF not
water.
We are so accustomed to regarding
Oriental races as barbarous, or semi-clv-
ilized, that it is a wholesome check to our
vanity to dwell occasionally on those things
in which we are the barbarians and the
Asiatics civilized. Everybody knows that
the English pay more attention to personal
cleanliness than any other European nation,
and America is perhaps even ahead OF
England in this respect. Yet DR.. J. v.
Shoemaker. professor of diseases of the
skin in the Medico- Chirurgical college of
Philadelphia, remarks in his recent work
on "Heredity, Health and Personal Beatty"
that no one who is called upon to make
physical examinations of applicants for en-
listment in the military service can con
ScientiOusly say that more than a traction
of the cases so presenting themselves,
evince due regard for the social and by
gienic demands of extreme nicely of person.
II is especially in the American hotels that
the bath is neglected. except in the largest
cities, which. rs rule, are shamefuily de-
iicient in such facilities. aid those that
have them in charge ask almost prohibitive
prices for their use.
How much better they order those
things on the other side of the Pa
ciic. In Japan, if you stop Mt the
humbleSt village inn for lunch. Il
basin of water is brought in which to
wash the feet; and if YOU stay for the night,
hardly has room been assigned TO you
when a girl appears to conduct you to the
bath, for the use of which no charge is
made. Nothing surprises them more than
Il foreigner who refuses TO take at least one
hot bath a day. They themselves are more
likely TO take Two or three; ana the conSe-
queuce is that the Japanese are the cleanest
people in the world. You may be henmed
in by the denSeSt crowd in Toxic on sui
Try summer day or stand among busy work
mcT whose Scant clothing is wet, aud never
viii your nostrils be offended by that disa-
greeable summer odor Of humanity, which
would be noticeable in other countries IN
der similar circumstances.
According to Prof. Chamberlain of the
university of Toxic, cleanliness is one Of
the few original items of Japanese civiliza-
ton. Almost all other things japanese
have their root in China, but not tubs. The
Chinese wear clean clothes, but they do not
wash their bodies daily like the japanese:
nor can the latter have adopted this Gus
tom from the aboriginal inhabitants OF their
islands for thcse-the AinOs-never bathed
at all.
WHY BATHING Is POPULAR.
Certainly the japanese have cleaner
streets than we have and their floor mats
are cleaner than our carpets, because no
one ever walks on them without first TAX
ing OF his shoes. On the other hand, they
have no sheets between their wadded quilts,
nor do thay wear linen or regularly change
their clothes and send them to the laundry;
and this has led some Christian writers,
who do not like to see heather nation
ahead of US III any respect. TO declare Jap
auese cleanliness mere Illusion and sham.
Miss Bird. for example, asserts that, 1.-The
bathing is not for publication, but for the
enjoyment of a sensuous luxury
Suppose we grant this, what difference
does it make, as long as the result is to
make the Japanese the cleaneSt people in
the world! The nose, which is the best
barometer for Judging different degrees of
cleanliness, tells us that this is true, and
proves to US that man who washes his
body once day, and changes his clothes
once a year, is cleaner than man who
changes his linen weekly, but bathes
only once year. Besides, it must be re-
membered that the Japanese poor wear
hardly anything in summer, while our slum
folk are covered with rags which are as I'M
washed and loathsome as their bodies.
No doubt Miss Bird is right in claiming
that the Japanese passion for hot baths is
based on the sensuous enjoyment they af
ford. Not entirely, however. The aspect
of their streets and houses shows that they
value cleanliness for its own sake; and be-
sides, they have a use for the hot bath
which may be considered unique. Their
houses affording but poor protection against
chilling winds, and having no fire places,
the hot bath is frequently used as last re-
sort for getting warm. Professor Cham
berlain relates that one day some of the in
habitants of Il certain village, famed for its
hot springs, excused themselves to hiQs@sef
their dirtiness during the busy summer
months. For" said they. 1--WE have only
time to battle twice 4 day" ''How often,
then, do YOU battle in winter?n ''Oh. about
four or five times daily The children get
into the bath whenever they feel cold.n To
sum up, the Japanese battle for sensuous
pleasure and warmth, and they not only get
these two, but several others equally desir-
able, clean bodies, health, d soft skin and a
clear complexion.
TEMPERATURE OF THE WATER.
Forsan's guide book attributes the pre-
their too frequent indulgence in the hot
bath, but DR.. Baelz, the authority ON
japanese physique, declares that these |
baths have many advantages, but not 4
single disadvantage, so far as he could l
ascertain. 1t is commonly supposed that |
hot baths embrace the nerves and invite |
colds, but this is true only of warm and not |
of hot baths, such rs the Japanese indulge |
in, ut a temperature of 10 TO 115 deg,
which. in some cases, is increased to 120 |
deg, aud occasionally even to $50 deg Fab |
renheit. Foreigners cannot endure such |
but the natives revel in |
them, and the effect on them is so bracing |
and Strengthening that they can. and often |
do, emerge from the tub and walk some dis |
tance in the coolest winter weather without !
a stitch of clothing on, and without catch !
ing a cold. When foreign physicians were |
.irst imported and looked Up to in Japan, |
about twenty years ago, they actually |
succeeded, in their ignorance. in making !
the government pass q law forbidding a |
higher temperature than blood heat; but the |
mistake was soon discovered and the law |
repealed. To-day those of the foreign resi- |
dents who are wisest have given up their |
cold baths ana try to approximate the Jap |
anese temperature as closely as possible.
Those who follow this example find the /
similar 70 those of Turkish |
bath. A profuse perspiration covers the |
body and the whole system seems reno |
waited If friction is desired it is supplied |
by the young man who heats the water or |
by one of the waiting maids for a trifiing |
fee; or else one of the blind ''shampooers, y
who are experts in massage, may be en-
gagged.
In some of the semi-foreign hotels in