Public bath - Sento

A public bathhouse where people can bathe for a bathing fee. The first public bathhouse in Edo was in 1591 (Tensho 19) near Zenigamebashi Bridge in Edo, when a man named Ise Yoichi opened a public bathhouse. People were surprised to see that it cost just one Eiraku coin to bathe, and went in. However, it is believed that public bathhouses had existed in Kyoto, Osaka, and other areas before that, and their origins are said to date back to the mid-Kamakura period. In the past, public bathhouse signs in Edo were in the shape of a bow with an arrow attached, but this was a riddle called "yuiru," a pun on the words "to shoot" and "to enter a bath." Later, cotton flags with the words "men and women yu" or just "yu" written on a navy blue background were displayed, but such signs were not used in Kyoto or Osaka. During the Bunka era (1804-1818), it is said that there were over 600 public baths throughout Edo.

Public baths offered ordinary hot water (sayu), and in Edo they did not offer medicinal baths either. The entrance to the room with the bathtub was a hanging partition panel between the bath and the sink, known as a zakuroguchi, and bathers entered through the gap below. Many zakuroguchi were decorated with gables or various carvings on the upper part. In Edo, the bathtub was three or four inches higher than the zakuroguchi, so you could not see outside while in the tub, but in Kyoto and Osaka, the tub was three or four inches lower, so you could see into the sink. Due to the structure, steam was trapped inside and made it warm, so when the zakuroguchi was abolished in the Meiji period, some people complained that their heads were cold.

When taking a bath, people brought hand towels and rice bran bags with them. Women always used rice bran bags to wash their faces, but it is said that only two or three out of ten men washed their rice bran with bags, and the rest did not use them. There was a shelf for storing clothes between the wooden boards leading from the sink to the counter, and some used a key, while others opened by matching numbers, but it was difficult to monitor the taking in and out of clothes with just the counter, so a separate person was posted between the wooden boards to watch over the children. This was to prevent what was commonly known as "board-room hustle."

In the early Edo period, bathhouses even had women called yuna, or bathhouses for women. The most famous of these was the bathhouse in front of the residence of Hori Tango no Kami, known as the "Tanzen" bath, an abbreviation of Tangodonomae. At seven o'clock (4 p.m.), bathers would turn away ordinary bathers, and the women who washed away the dirt from the customers during the day would get ready, and in the changing room, folding screens and other furniture would be set up to create a tatami-style room, where some women would engage in prostitution, playing the shamisen and singing kouta, but this was later banned for public morals reasons. As a result, bathhouses employed sansuke (babysocks) instead of bathhouse women, and taking advantage of the fact that the second floor, which was used for leisurely visitors, was no longer needed, the bathhouses would serve tea and other drinks as a place of rest for male customers, and also sold sweets. Since they also had Go and Shogi games, it naturally became a place where people with free time gathered and chatted, and it was a good place to learn about the social conditions of the time. In the Edo period, only upper samurai residences and landlords had bathing facilities in their own homes, so all ordinary people used public baths. Even if they did have bathing facilities, only the master's family used them, and servants, maids, clerks, and young priests were made to work at the public bath after finishing their work. For these reasons, public baths were very popular. Also, in the beginning, many public baths were mixed-gender, and due to repeated prohibitions, the entrance, wooden floor, and sink area became separate. However, some baths remained with only one bathtub with a partition in the middle, and it took time to completely change them. Public baths also have hygiene issues, so they have set monthly closing days to clean the bathtub, yuoke (water buckets), sink area, etc. and keep them clean. Especially during the Edo period, there was a great concern about fires, and it was customary not to light fires during strong winds, and even during official events, holidays were designated for the fear of a major fire. On these days, simple bath repairs were made, the hoops on the bathtubs were tightened, and, if the weather was fine, the bathtubs were piled on the street to dry.

In the Meiji period, the government issued prohibitions such as a ban on mixed bathing in 1869-70 (Meiji 2-3) and the abolition of the Zakuroguchi entrance in 1879, and strengthened management of hygiene and public morals, but changes were not easily made. At the beginning of the Taisho period, painted pictures of landscapes such as Mt. Fuji appeared on the walls. It was not until the Showa period, after the Great Kanto Earthquake, that the exteriors of public baths were changed to karahafu-style roofs. Since the Edo period, sento have continued to exist as public baths for the health and hygiene of the common people and as places for socializing, but their numbers have been declining since around 1970 (Showa 45) due to the spread of private baths.

[Fumio Inagaki]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

湯銭(ゆせん)をとって入浴させる湯屋のこと。江戸での銭湯の初見は、1591年（天正19）江戸・銭瓶(ぜにがめ)橋の近くで、伊勢(いせ)与市という者が初めて銭湯風呂(ぶろ)を営業し、永楽銭一文で入浴させたので、人々が珍しがって入ったという。しかし京都、大坂などではそれ以前から銭湯のごときものがあったと思われ、その起源は鎌倉時代中期ごろまでさかのぼるともいわれる。江戸の湯屋の看板は、昔は弓に矢をつがえた形のものを出したが、これは「ゆいいる」という謎(なぞ)で、「射(い)入る」と「湯に入る」をもじった洒落(しゃれ)であった。のちには紺地に「男女ゆ」あるいは「ゆ」とだけ書いた木綿(もめん)旗を出したが、京坂ではこのような看板は使わなかった。文化(ぶんか)年間（1804～18）には江戸中に銭湯が600軒余りあったといわれる。

　銭湯は普通の白湯(さゆ)であって、薬湯などとの兼業は江戸にはなかった。浴槽のある室への入り口は、流し場との間に垂れ下がった仕切りの羽目板があり、いわゆるざくろ口で、浴客はその下のすきまをくぐって入る。ざくろ口は上のほうに破風(はふ)の形のものとか種々の彫り物などで飾ったものが多かった。江戸では、ざくろ口より浴槽を三、四寸高くするため、槽の中に入っていると外が見えないが、京坂では槽のほうが三、四寸低いので流し場のほうが見える。構造上、内部には湯気がこもって暖かかったので、明治になってざくろ口を廃止した当時は、頭が寒いという声もあった。

　入浴には手拭(てぬぐい)と糠(ぬか)袋を持参した。婦女は洗顔などにかならず糠袋を使うが、男子は糠洗いをする者が10人に2、3人程度で、残りの者は使わなかったという。流し場から番台に続く板の間に衣服を入れる棚があり、鍵(かぎ)を用いるものもあれば、番号をあわせてあけるものもあるが、番台だけでは衣服の出し入れを監視するのはむずかしいので、板の間に別に監視人を置いたりした。俗にいう板の間稼ぎを防ぐためである。

　江戸時代初期には、湯屋に湯女(ゆな)という女を置く、いわゆる湯女風呂などもあった。なかでも堀丹後守(ほりたんごのかみ)の屋敷前にあった湯女風呂は、丹後殿前を略して「丹前」風呂とよばれ、有名であった。七つ（午後4時）になると一般の入浴客を断り、昼間に客の垢(あか)を流した湯女に身支度を整えさせ、上り場（脱衣場）に屏風(びょうぶ)などを立てて座敷風にし、三味線、小唄(こうた)などとともに売春する者もあったが、これはその後風紀上の理由で禁止された。そこで湯屋は湯女のかわりに三助を使ったが、遊客用の二階が不用になったのを利用し、男客のための休息の場として湯茶の接待をしたり菓子類の販売もした。碁、将棋なども備えていたため、自然と暇な連中が集まって雑談、放談の場となり、当時の世相内容を知るかっこうの場所となった。江戸時代には、上士屋敷とか大家以外は自家内に湯殿の設備がないので、一般庶民はすべて銭湯を利用した。また、あっても主人家族のみが使用し、下男、下女、番頭、小僧などは、仕事が終わったあとに銭湯にやらされたのである。これらのため銭湯はたいへん繁盛した。また当初は男女混浴の銭湯が多く、たびたびの禁令で、入口、板の間、流し場と別々になっていった。しかし、浴槽は一つで中央を仕切っただけのものが残り、すっかり改まるまでには日時を要した。銭湯は衛生上の問題もあるので、浴槽、湯桶(ゆおけ)、流し場などを掃除し清潔を保つために、毎月の定休日を定めてある。とくに江戸時代には火災の心配も大きく、強風のときなどは焚(た)かないことになっており、そのほか公式行事の際も、万一の大火を恐れて休日とした。その日には、簡単な浴場の修理や湯桶のたがの締め直し、また晴天であれば、道に湯桶を重ねて乾かしたりした。

　明治になって政府は、1869～70年（明治2～3）混浴の禁止、79年ざくろ口の廃止など禁令を出し、衛生上、風紀上の管理を強化したが、容易に改まらなかった。大正時代の初めには、壁に富士山などの風景を描いたペンキ絵が出現した。また屋根が唐破風(からはふ)造になって外観が変化したのは関東大震災後、昭和に入ってからである。江戸時代以来の銭湯は、公衆浴場として庶民の保健衛生のため、また社交場としても存続してきたが、自家風呂の普及により1970年（昭和45）ころから減少している。

［稲垣史生］

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