Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1891-07-03

have been introduced. but the Japanese
themselves use square wooden tanks,
sometimes large enough to admit several
persons at a time. The water can be
| heated in short time by means of
| copper tube, and has grating of
charcoal at the bottom. For economical
reasons the japanese never have bath tubs
to lie IN, but usually make them wide
enough so that one can sit or kneel which
requires less water, and therefore less
coal.
So far all seems well, but there two
| things about japanese baths which are apt
to stagger foreign visitors, the use of the
| same water by number of persons, and
absolute indifference to nudity. When
the family bath is ready, the father. mo-
ther. children and servants, all enter il in
the order here given. This may not seem
so very dreadful, but it is otherwise in
crowded inn, where score or two of
guests, entire strangers to each other. are
expected TO use the same water to econo-
mlze fuel. This may seem better than
no bath at all, and as the natives wash
! themselves all over before entering the
tub, the objections may seem largely I'M
ag1nary; but we cannot overcome our pre-
dllection for fresh tub for each individ-
ual, and communism in bathing does not
seem an inviting form of hygienic diver
sion. We have similar forms of aqueous
communism at Baden Baden, the hot
bath III Switzerland, and the first tank
of our Turkish baths; out there at least.
the water flows incesSantly, while in
japanese inns, found sometimes that the
lazy servant even retained the previous
day S water, filed with hairs and shreds
of skin. Fortunately the fastidiousness
OF foreigners Is taken into consideration,
ana they are usually invited to the bath
first.
In 1877 law was passed against nudity
In cities and strict police regulations have
since that time done a good deal to reduce
the number of exposures, but a tendency
still remains to revert to former habits as
soon DIS the policeman 5 back is turned: and
IN the villages and country districts, where
police supervision is less strict, the old
order of things still prevails BOYS and
girls up to the age of ten and twelve run
about stark-naked, ana in remote villages.
draw up In lines IN the 5 reefs through
which foreigner is seen passing in his
jinrikisha. Many men in the fields and
especially the fishermen, seem to find even
the customary lOin cloth an encumbrance;
and the girls and women are almost in
varlabiy clothed only below the waist. As
regards the family bath, it is no longer
customary to place tub in front of the
house III the street, but in this matter the
letter rather than the spirit of he law, has
been complied with, for the tub is now
placed In the backyard, and as the sliding
screen walls of the houses are all removed
during the day time, 1t is almost as much
exposed to view as when it was placed in
the street.
In the inns, as have already remarked.
hardly have you been shown to your room
when girl appears to conduct you to the
bath. There, unless told to leave, she
waits to receive your coat and other gar
ments on her arm, till there is nothing
more to receive. Then she deposits them
carefully in a corner and departs, unless
she should hear you fall on the slippery
inside room, when she will run in TO help
you up, with many apologies for the state
of the floor. At the sulphur baths in
Hakodate, and everywhere, these girls
come IN at anytime without knocking to
see if the water is cold enough, or if you
need towel; just as they enter the bed
room IN the early morning to remove
the mosquito netting and let in the fresh
air.
Japan being volcanic country, is full
of hot mineral springs, at many of which
the habits of the olden tunes are preserved
IN all their former simplicity. YumOto, a
few miles beyond Nikko, is one of these
places. Half the village consists of bath
ing houses lining both sides of the streets
Their doors are wide open, and inside
ar e two large tanks without any partition
between them, one illed with men and the
other containing dozen or more girls and
women, in the original costume of Eve,
and as unconsc. GUS of any notion of i'm
propriety as so many babies Each one
has small blue towel, and some of those
who live near the bath house do not 60 to
the trouble of taking their clothes with
them. Along the sea coast you will see
hundreds of natives, men, women and
children frolicking about in the water,
which is so warm that no suit, not even
bathing tights, seem to be considered
necessary.
In and near Toxic, such scenes are nc
longer tolerated, for although the bathing
rooms are no longer fully exposed to the
street. they are only closed below, and any
one who chooses can look in through the
latticed bars above; nor do the bathers OBJ
Ject to such a proceeding. There is always
a separate tank for women and one for
men, but the partition between them is
only rev rect In helght, and what Is
stranger still, man may be seen waiting
on q score or more women on their side.
while on the mems side, girl stands to
receive the admission fee.
1t must be understood that these people
are perfectly respectable, and that order
and propriety prevail invariably. 1t
would seem inexplicable that nation so
civilized as the Japanese, whJ in general
aesthetic culture and refinement of manners
are superior to all other nations, should be
in this respect on level with the FIJI
Islanders and South American Indians,
were it not for our knowledge that the
most advanced people of antiquity, the
Greeks, showed an equal Indifference to
nudity And to tel the truth nudity is
almost necessity in Japan in summer,
especially tor the working people. In
climate, where even those who remain
idle in the shade, are covered day and
night with a profuse perspiration which
never evapOrates, clothing of any sort is a
torture to hem who have to toll zen hours
or more day After spending a summer
in Japan / should not be surprised to hear
at any time that the population had risen
in wrath and expelled the cruel, prudish
foreigners. who are responsible for te
odious law compelling them 70 wear
clothes in sumner.-Philadelp Times