Mino Onsen Spa Garden

 

Tomomi and I met around 10 am to visit the onsen. It was a cloudy misty day, and we began by hiking up the path to the waterfall. Many of the cafes and businesses were closed because it was a weekday. It felt like the proprietors had slept in because of the weather, as if each had weighed the options and decided that today it wasn’t worth it. Staring at the waterfall, I thought about how falling water and burning wood are both so fascinating. I told Tomomi about my new goal to collect fire festivals this summer.

We turned back, ready to warm up at the baths. At the base of the hill, an aggressive four storey glass elevator hung off the stone cliff like a backpack, overpowering the gentle toned concrete hotel behind. Originally, the place was accessed by cable car, a much more gentle (but still kind of silly or perhaps the word is magnificent) arrival. Craning my neck, the leisure center building looked like a modular growth accumulating in horizontal strands. The basic module was a cubic matrix of board form concrete beams (meaning that the concrete is intentionally textured by the form, many pieces of wood). At the intersections of the matrix, the beams jut past a bit, terminating in short cantilevers, reminiscent of wooden temple architecture. Specifically, Tomomi notes, Kansai residents are reminded of Kiyomizu temple. (Pure Water temple...look forward to a future blog post!)

Minoo Onsen

Kiyomizu temple

This basic format gives the building its massing, since while designing the architect [Junzo Sakakura Associates (now Sakakura Associates) and Fumitaka Nishizawa] could add or subtract a module to relate program functions or to allow space for air and light to permeate an interior. After this measured and elegant architectural pattern, the leisure center was packed with every conceivable leisure oriented activity available at the time (mid-1960s). This include bowling, karaoke, bar, restaurant, snack booth, video arcade, theatre for live musical or theatrical performance (we caught the end of a short play about samurais and honor or something), concessions, pool, souvenirs, workout room, and ice skating rink.

Here's a site Tomomi found that really documents the architecture of the sento
http://www.hetgallery.com/minoh-hotel-osaka.html

In the baths, Tomomi guided me through etiquette. Although others have explained the protocol to me, the way people use the space actually has subtle variations, so Tomomi’s explanation added information and broadened my understanding. The main points included a raised level of modest and a variation on the order of operations involved in bathing.

My slim friend carefully removed her cloths, keeping a long, narrow ofuro towel (provided with our ~$10 admission) covering the front of her body. As we made our way through the course of baths, she delicately entered each bath by slowly gathering the towel away from the water’s surface until she was in and the towel was collapsed at the edge of the bath. It's a simple thing, and when practicing it, I felt I was showing respect to other bathers somehow by covering myself. Although this sounds self-effacing, it didn’t go as deep as that. It was more akin to a polite gesture such as averting the eyes or allowing someone to pass through a narrowed space before you. But, my natural frankness regarding my nudity in these circumstances made me impatient with the extra work it takes to perform these little modicums. I don’t have the pose for it, making me heartily respect my friend’s behaviour.

The second thing I learned from Tomomi involved the order of the baths. Here is a list comparing two methods:

 
Actually the two are very similar yet result in completely different experiences. The list on the left emphasizes the purification ritual at the beginning. The body must be clean before entering the bath, because it (the body) is very dirty, the logic goes. The experience is therefore divided into A. purify and B. enjoy. In the second list, the order is more integrated. The purification ritual is much less practical and more symbolic (dousing oneself with water). The baths are here for us to enjoy, but they are common, so before leaving we should rinse off the shared water. The body is primary and the baths are secondary according to this logic.

pink and grey! yes!!

this is a skylight and vent for the bath

Tomomi and Ashle with deer head