History

Sentō: Coin Hot Water

In Edo, most homes had no plumbing. No private baths. So people went to the sentō (銭湯). By the early 1800s, over 500 of them. You paid a small fee, undressed, and soaked. Everyone together. …

Ukiyo-e triptych of women bathing and dressing in a public sentō bathhouse, with Mount Fuji visible through the window

A letter from Japan, worth slowing down for.

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