Tokyo's Public Bathhouses

choi

Troubled waters; Tokyo's vanishing bath-houses. Economist, Aug 12, 2017.
https://www.economist.com/news/a ... re-fighting-survive

Note:
(a) "Akebono-Yu 曙湯 [built with 藤の木], Tokyo's oldest sentō 銭湯, or public bath-house * * * Teruo SHIMADA 嶋田 照夫 [19th-generation owner; 嶋 is a variant of 島], the owner of Akebono-Yu * * * Mr Shimada's ancestors started the business in 1773. A volcanic stream [not 黒湯, but 透明の温泉] over 1,000m underground, discovered while digging a well, feeds the baths."

曙湯 藤 浅草 銭湯 藤の花 Asakusa public bath Wisteria. YouTube.com, published by "iamshinya777" on Apr 26, 2014.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fgjc2nf9Y3A
(b) Japanese-English dictionary:
* akebono 曙 【あけぼの】 (n): "dawn; daybreak; beginning"
* yu 湯 【ゆ】 (n): "(1) hot water; (2) hot bath; hot spring"
* teru 照る 【てる】 (v): "to shine"

teriyaki 照焼
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teriyaki
("foods are broiled or grilled with a glaze of [tare consisting of] soy sauce, mirin, and sugar. * * * The word teriyaki derives from the noun teri (照り), which refers to a shine or luster given by the sugar content in the tare (タレ), and yaki (焼き)")

(c) "Once attached to Buddhist shrines, sentos still have a whiff of the spiritual. * * * Until the frenetic modernisation in the run-up to the Olympics in 1964, 40% of homes in Tokyo lacked baths * * * the bath-houses' distinctive chimney stacks are disappearing."
(i) The ja.wikipedia.org under 銭湯 states, "日本に仏教伝来した時、僧侶達が身を清めるため、寺院に「浴堂」が設置された。病を退けて福を招来するものとして入浴が奨励され、貧しい人々や病人・囚人らを対象としての施浴も積極的に行うようになった"

My translation: When Buddhism came to Japan [from China], monks set up bath house to cleanse themselves. When were then opened to the poor, patients and the incarcerated .
(ii) "lielielie" (photographer), 銭湯の煙突 The chimney of the public bath. Flickr, Jan 25, 2010.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/lielielie/4316372825/