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    The Japanese Bath
    The Japanese Bath
    The Japanese Bath
    Ebook170 pages59 minutes

    The Japanese Bath

    By Bruce Smith

    4.5/5

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    About this ebook

    In the West, a bath is a place one goes to cleanse the body. In Japan, one goes there to cleanse the soul. Bathing in Japan is about much more than cleanliness: it is about family and community. It is about being alone and contemplative, time to watch the moon rise above the garden. Along with sixty full-color illustrations of the light and airy baths themselves, The Japanese Bath, delves into the aesthetic of bathing Japanese style and the innate beauty of the steps surrounding the process. The authors explain how to create a Japanese bath in your own home. A Zen meditation, the Japanese bath, indeed, cleanses the soul, and one emerges refreshed, renewed, and serene.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherGibbs Smith
    Release dateMar 12, 2001
    ISBN9781423619291
    The Japanese Bath
    Author

    Bruce Smith

    Bruce Smith is a wildlife biologist and science writer. He spent most of his 30-year federal career managing wildlife populations on the Wind River Indian Reservation and the National Elk Refuge in Wyoming. His research has produced over 40 technical and popular papers and book chapters focused primarily on large mammal population ecology, diseases, migratory behavior, and predator-prey relationships.After a combat tour with the US Marines in Vietnam, Bruce earned B.S. and M.S. degrees from the University of Montana. His Master’s research focused on winter ecology of mountain goats in Montana’s Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness Area. Half-way through his government career, he investigated population regulation of the Jackson elk herd in Wyoming for his doctorate degree from the University of Wyoming.His first book, Imperfect Pasture (2004), records changes in the ecology of the National Elk Refuge during its 100-year history. Wildlife on the Wind (2010) is based on his four years working with the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Indian tribes. At their request, he catalogued the status of the reservation’s diverse wildlife and helped foster a landmark recovery of elk, deer, moose, bighorn sheep, and pronghorn antelope. Where Elk Roam (2011) chronicles his 22 years studying and managing Jackson Hole’s famous migratory elk herd. Life on the Rocks (2014) portrays in words and photographs the natural history and conservation challenges of the mountain goat throughout its North American range. His latest nonfiction book, Stories from Afield, is a collection of outdoor adventure stories.After leaving the US Fish and Wildlife Service in 2004, Bruce and his wife Diana moved to southwest Montana where he continues his conservation work and writing.

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    • 4/5
      Nice book but squarely aimed at the American market. For people who want to want to build a Jstyle bath or visit one in the US. Not really about actual baths in Japan

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    The Japanese Bath - Bruce Smith

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    Acknowledgments

    As the pleasure of bathing in a public sento in Japan comes from sharing the bath water with others, so has much of the pleasure of researching and writing this book come from the time shared with the many people who helped, encouraged, guided, and supported our vision of this project.

    In particular, we would like to give thanks to Laura Voisin George, who devoted so much research time to us, finding many sources and homes for the book. We are grateful to Steve Fletcher, Carl Croft, Delwin Rimbey, and their staff at Dandelion, who not only lent us objects for our photo shoots but also shared Yakedono, their beautiful home with a serene Japanese bath set on a northern California mountaintop. We give heartfelt thanks to Arai Shuichi in Kawagoe, Japan, who granted us an unforgettable afternoon showing us each and every step of making a traditional Japanese tub, and to Duke Klauck and Julia Goldberg at Ten Thousand Waves, who with Gibbs Smith had the original vision for this book. We were fortunate to work with two very talented young photographers: Aya Brackett and Rebecca Kent each contributing vastly to the quality of the images used in this book. We are indebted to Dakota Eckard and Ursula Dawkins for their assistance in finding models. We thank Chadine Flood Gong of Chadine Interior Design, Jimmy Maekawa of Japan Woodworking & Design, and Glen Collins of Hana Shoji and Interiors for their patience with our questions and for their assistance in finding homes to photograph. Ed Stiles not only allowed us to photograph his home and led us to another wonderful bath to photograph, he also gave us invaluable information regarding the history of the Japanese bath in America. The time we spent with Len Brackett at his home and workplace in the Sierra foothills opened our eyes to a sense of refined Japanese simplicity that is possible but rarely achieved in this country.

    We are also grateful to many individuals at various Japanese institutions and companies, whose generosities we wish we could return someday: Edo-Tokyo Museum, Saitama Prefectural Museum, Tokyo Public Bath Association, archives at Kao Corporation, Daikoku-yu in Tokyo, Kaho in Nigata Prefecture, Sansuiso in Fukushima Prefecture, Hogetsu in Hakone area, Yunogo-mura in Shuzenji Hot Springs, Gorokaku in Gumma Prefecture, Hoeiso in Hakone, Kona Hotel in Izu-Nagaoka area, Kindai Pension in Gumma Prefecture, Tenoji-ya in Kusatsu Hot Springs, Otakino-yu in Kusatsu, Nagaya at Fukuchi Hot Springs, Nanadaru Hot Springs in Shizuoka Prefecture, Kodai Hinoki, Kiso Artech, Hinoki Soken, INAX, and Tsumura.

    We also wish to acknowledge and give thanks to a number of individuals and organizations who helped us in our writing, research, and photography: Beverly Hot Springs; Mike Chase; East Wind (Higashikaze) Inc.; Masaru Seido at Gilroy Hot Springs; Ron Herman, Landscape Architect; Hida Tools; Paul Discoe and Gloria McMillan at Joinery Structures; Kathy Nelson at Kabuki Hot Springs and Spa; Ann and Hiroshi Sakaguchi at Ki Arts; Karen Ray and Michael Stusser at Osmosis Enzyme Bath and Massage; Robert Ghelertel at Robert’s Hot Tubs; Bill Findley at Sea Otter Wood Works; Leslie and everyone else at Tassajara Zen Mountain Center; Jacqueline Sa at Tea Garden Springs, who guided us as to the health benefits of bathing; Kayt Cunningham, Greg Lopatosky, and Kartar Kaur at Ten Thousand Waves, who introduced us to Herbal Wraps, Watsu, and Salt Glows; Thousand Cranes Futon Shop; Norm Potter and Bill McCaulay of Tubmakers; Annette Curi at the Hannah Carter Japanese Garden of the University of California, Los Angeles; Watercourse Way; Matthew Kondo and Jane Lee at San Francisco’s Hotel Nikko; Gene and Diep Agress; Michael Andrews and Celeste Weidman; Brenda and Jeff Bohn; Leslie Desmond for her enthusiasm; Betty and Elliot Finkle; Everal Mitchell; Keiko Nelson; Kent and Fumiko Singleton; Robert and Carol Swenson; Yoshiko Wada and Hercules Morphopoulos; and Joseph and Kimiko Wilkerson.

    We were fortunate to have the courageous participation of models willing to soak for three and sometimes four hours in the lukewarm water of a Japanese bathtub just so we could achieve that perfect photograph. We give thanks to Lara Tran, Alexander, Ariel, and Max Agress; Tamara Alvarez, Ursula Dawkins, Angela Pitu, Laura Rainville, and Cathy Vu—who traveled all the way from Seattle just for this project; Kento Yamamoto, Ceaser Zepeda, Leilani Buddenhagen, and Priscilla Freeman.

    The vision for this project was enabled as always by the support and encouragement of our talented, disciplinarian editor, Gail Yngve. We value her more than we can express.

    Shop display of handcrafted tubs by Arai Shuichi, Kawagoe, Japan.

    Introduction

    We have lived our lives outside of Japan for more than a decade now. One of us was born in the center of Tokyo; the other merely lived and worked in Japan for four years. Yet, wherever we are now, wherever we live, work, or travel, we both carry elements of that culture that we count as essential

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