温泉 – Onsen (Hotsprings)

29th February – 如月

For the cold weather days, it feels just great to take a bath, doesn’t it? In Japan, there are many 温泉 (Onsen= hot springs) and people enjoy bathing into the very hot water and seeing the outstanding view from there all the year.

From the old time, Onsen is believed to have the healing effects and cure illness and injury. Those beliefs are actually true, Onsen has various great benefit;

-Smooth skin: the body becomes warm and get sweaty, so the pores will open. From there, the dirt will come out therefore the skin becomes smooth.

–Water pressure effect: the water pressure by taking the bath can stimulate the viscera. This pressure massages body and makes viscera work better.

-Floating effect: putting body deeply into the water till neck makes the body weight lighter, to 1 out of 10. This allow to move freely and loosen the muscle so makes body relax.

Also each minerals from the different Onsen have variety of effects for body, such as lessen stiff shoulder, heal the back pains and so on.

By the way, do you know the difference between 温泉 (Onsen) and 銭湯 (Sentou)?

Onsen is what you call hot springs, where the nature creates the hot water from the ground. That water has to be over 25 degrees and it contains minerals.

On the other hand, Sentou is made by humans, the artificial public bathing place where many people gather.

So do not confuse with those two!

When you go to the Onsen or Sentou, you need to know how to keep the public bath clean and safe. Here are some rules.

1. First before jumping into the water, you need to clean your body with water: pour hot water from feet to shoulder. In order not to have heart attack here, it is important to start from bottom of your body to get used to the temperature.
2. Wash your body and head before going into the water. There are heaps space for each people to clean body, so make sure you are not dirty beforehand!
3. Finally you are allowed to go into the hot water! Enjoy the relaxing moment:)
4. When you finish bathing, get out from the water and then clean your body with water from the tap once again before getting out from this space. As many people use the same Onsen and Sentou every day, there might be some people who break this rule… So it is recommended to just pour some water to clean your body.
5. Wipe your body with clean towel – wiping before going to the changing room is the best as dripping water in the changing room always annoys people!

You can bring your towel to the bath to wash your body with it or hide your body, however do not put the towel into the bath. So basically you can hide your body until you reach the bath! Also it is recommended to drink plenty water before the bath as you will get sweaty and lose a lot water from your body.