page_title: Bathing
section_title: Private baths
hierarchical_section_title: Bathing / Japanese bathing culture / Private baths
caption_attribution_description: English: albumen
context_page_description: Bathing is the washing of the body with a liquid, usually water or an aqueous solution, or the immersion of the body in water. It may be practiced for personal hygiene, religious ritual or therapeutic purposes. By analogy, especially as a recreational activity, the term is also applied to sun bathing and sea bathing.
  Bathing can take place in any situation where there is water, ranging from warm to cold. It can take place in a bathtub or shower, or it can be in a river, lake, water hole, pool or the sea, or any other water receptacle. The term for the act can vary. For example, a ritual religious bath is sometimes referred to as immersion or baptism, the use of water for therapeutic purposes can be called a water treatment or hydrotherapy, and two recreational water activities are known as swimming and paddling.
context_section_description: Today, most homes in Japan have a bathroom (ofuro), which was often not the case about 30 years ago. Bath water in Japan is much hotter than what is usual in Central Europe. The temperature is usually well above 40 °C. In medical literature, 47 °C is considered bearable. The heat is considered a prerequisite for complete relaxation. The custom is to thoroughly clean oneself with soap and rinse before entering the tub, so as not to contaminate the bath water. Until the 19th century, the Japanese did not use soap, but rubbed the skin with certain herbs, or rice bran, which was also a natural exfoliant.
caption: Home bathing (1900s), by Kusakabe Kimbei
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