Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1891-07-03
Interesting Bathing Stories from ia
pan Which are Entertaining Read
ing at This Season.
Men. Women and Children Bathing in
one Large Tub Astonish the
Foreigners.
Nudity and Frequent Ablutions Ne.
eessity in Japan in the
Summer.
HENRY T. FINCH.


and the daily bath toe first of all duties
While New York has had to wait until the
year 1891. before project was started for
! supply ing the great unwashed with baths
| at ii reasonable rate, the metropolis oi
Japan has offered such opportunities as
far back as the records go. Toxic has to-
day about 800 public baths, in which 300,-
600 persons. or almost a third of the pop
ulation, bathe every day, at cost of one
cent for each hot bath; and besides this
every family, except some of TIE very
poorest, has It's own private bathroom IN
the house, 0r at least a tub and plenty of
| hot water.
We are so accustomed to regarding
| Oriental races as barbarous, or semi
civilized, that IL Is a wholesome check u
our vanity to dwell occasionally on those
things in which we are the barbarians a, ID
the Asiatlcs civilized. Everybody knows
that the English pay more attention to
personal cleanliness than any other Euro
| peau nation. and America is perhaps even
ahead of England in this respect. Yet
| DR.. j. Y. Shoemaker, professor of diseases
! of the skin in the Medico-G Gbirurgical col
lege of Philadelphia, remarks in his recent
work ON "Heredity, Health and Personal
| Beauty, that no one who is called upon
to make physical examinations of appli-
cants for enlistment In the military service
can conscientously say, that more than a
fraction of the cases So presenting them
selves, evince due regard for the social
and hygienic demands Of extreme nicely
of person. 1t is especially In the American
hotels, that the bath is neglected except in
the largest cities, which as rule, are
shamefully deficient in such facilities, and
those that have them in charge ask almost
productive prices for their use.
How much better they order those things
on the other side of the Pacific. In Japan,
if you stop at the humbIest village inn for
lunch, basin Of water is brought i'll 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
foreigner who refuses to take more than
one hot bath a day. They themselves are
more likely to take two or three; and he
consequence is that he Japanese are the
cleanest people in the world. You may be
| hemmed in by the densest crowd at Toxic
on a sultry summer day, or stand among
busy w0rkmen whose scant clothing is
wet, and never will yonr nostriIs be Of
! Tended by that Disagree summer odor
! of humanity, which v noticeable
in other countries u Jar circnml
! stances.
According to Professor Chamberlain, of
the University of Toxic, cleanliness is
one of the few Orig iginal items of japanese
| civilization. Almost all other things
| Japanese have their root in China, bnt rot
| tubs. The Chinese wear clean clothes, but
| they do not wash their bodies daily like
| the Japanese; nor can the latter have
adopted this custom from the aboriginal
inhabitants of their islands for these-the
| Alnos-never bathed at all.
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 off his shoes. On the other hand, they
| have no sheets between their wadded
! quilts, nor do they wear linen, or regular
| ly change their clothes and send them to
| the laundry; and this has led some
| Christian writers. who do not like to see
a heathen nation ahead of us in anv re-
| spect, to declare Japanese cleanliness a
| mere illusion and sham. Miss Bird, for
example, asserts that, ''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 ds 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 a man who washes his
body once day, and changes his clothes
once a year, is cleaner than a man who
changes his linen weekly, but bathes only
once a year. Besides, 1t must be remem-
bered that the Japanese poor wear hardly
anything in summer, while Our slum folks
are covered with rags which are unwashed
and as loathsome as their bodies.
.aNo 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 a
| last resort for getting warm. Professor
! Chamberlain relates that one day some of
| the inhabitants of a certain village, famed
for its hot springs, excused themselves to
| him for their dirtiness during the busy
summer months. For" said they. I'VE
have only time to bathe twice a day -
How often. then do you bathe in win
ter?'' oh about four or FIVE times daily. :"
The children get into the bath whenever
they feel cool. To sum up, the japanese
| bathe for sensuoU~ pleasure and warmth,
and they not Criy ge these only, but sew
eraI others, equally desirable. clean bodies
| health, soft skin and clear complexion
! Forsan's guide book attributes the pre-
mature aging of japanese women in part to
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 a
single disadvantage, so far as he could
ascertain. 1t is commonly supposed tnat
hot baths unbrace the nerves and invite
| colds. but this is true of warm and not of
! hot baths. such as the japanese indulge
IN. at a temperature Of 100 to lis degrees
| which in some cases. Is increased to 120
| degrees and occasionally even to 80 de-
| grees Fahrenheit Foreigners cannot en-
dure the temperature, but the natives rayel
| In them. and the effect on them Is so brac-
ing, and strengthening that they can, and
| often do. emerge from the tub and walk
| some distance IN the coldest winter
! weather without stitch of clothing on
and without catching a cold When
foreign physicians were first imported and
looked up to in Japan, about twenty
years ago they actually succeeded in their
ignorance, in making.the government pass
a,aw torbidding higher temperature,,than
! blood heat: but the mistake was soon dis
covered and the law repealed. To-day
those of the foreign residents who are
| wisest have given up their cold baths, and
try to approximate the japanese tempera-
( lures as close as possible
Those who follow this example, find the
consequences similar TO those of Turkish
bath. 4 profuse perspiration covers the
body. and the whole system seems reno
| rated If friction Is desired il is supplied
By the young man who heats the water, or
by one Of the waiting maid. for trihIng
fee; or else one of the blind 'shampooers,
! whC are experts in mas sage may be en-
gagged.
In some of tie semi-foreign hotels IL
| Toxic. Kioto. Mike, and other places, OBJ