Do you know “sento”?
Long years ago, when there were not many families with baths in the city, Japanese people used a public bath facility.
Its history is old, its origin dates back to the Nara period, and the word “sento” appeared in the literature during the Kamakura period.
“Sento” is characterized by a bath where everyone can get naked evenly, regardless of age, gender, or status.
It’s a place where many people use together, so there are some promises to use it comfortably.
They are rules and manners. Actually, manners that must be followed in public baths are also related to the daily life of Japanese people.
A sento is a place where you can learn a lot of common manners.
Basic knowledges
There are three common rules:
Promises at dressing room
Do not use a mobile phone
Put your luggage into the locker and close the key
Basically, only one locker is allowed per person. Keep your luggage to a minimum and take responsibility for managing it yourself.
There is also sentos where you put your clothes off in an open basket. In that case, it is safe to put your valuables in a separate safe.
Promises at the wash space
Do not keep place
Keeping your belongings where you wash is a violation of manners. If you have a place to put your belongings, put them there.
Do not splash shampoo foam or shower splashes
There are cases where the washing places are separated one by one, but it is still possible for your splashes to fly around.
Be sure to sit and use the shower in consideration of the people around you.
Return chairs and basins after use to their original positions
After using the equipment provided, return it to its original location. It is recommended that you wash off any bubbles or hair attached to them and leave them clean.
Promise when taking a bath
Wash your body with hot water or take a shower before taking a bath
Let’s take a bath after thoroughly washing around the waist. It also has the purpose of preventing your body from being surprised by the temperature of the hot water.
Do not put towels in the bathtub
Towels that look beautiful at first glance also have bacteria attached. It is forbidden to put it on the bathtub where hot water comes and goes.
Except for some permitted mixed baths, bathing with towels and bathing suits is also NG.
Prevent your hair from getting immersed in the bathtub
If hair enters the bathtub, it may be unsanitary because the hair may fall into the bathtub or dandruff or dust may adhere.
Use elastic bands, clips, or towels to gather long hair that extends under your shoulders.
Watch out for hot flashes
If you want to have a long bath, take a break from time to time. When taking a break, consider the people around you and avoid spreading your legs too much.
In addition, refrain from taking a bath after drinking alcohol because it is easy to dehydrate.
Promises after taking a bath
Wipe your body with a towel before going to the dressing room
If it gets wet, the floor gets wet and slips, causing injury. Let’s wipe off the moisture as close to the bath entrance as possible.
Do not walk around naked
There are only same-sex people in the dressing room, but consider the people around you and do not walk around naked.
You will feel hot after a bath, but try to wear underwear as soon as possible.
Let’s enjoy a drink after bath
Vending machines and refrigerators are installed in most dressing rooms and rest areas. Cold drinks are the best on a hot body. Bottled milk and coffee milk are especially recommended.
Extra: How to use saunas effectively
Many sentos are also equipped with saunas, and many people go there for that purpose.
Therefore, as an extra edition, we will also introduce how to enter saunas effectively.
First of all, there are three important things to prepare before entering!
Let’s enter after washing head and body well. It becomes easy to sweat when the dirt of sweat glands is gone. A clean body as an etiquette is an important factor
Let’s enter the sauna after slowly soaking in the bathtub. If you are warm enough, you can sweat more easily in the sauna.
Preventing dehydration by taking a glass of water in advance.
Also, before entering the room, wipe off the moisture from your body and stop entering the sauna with your body wet. They are the most basics of the sauna, so let’s understand.
If you want to relieve stress
A good way to relieve stress is to enter the bath slowly at a temperature of around 70 ° C called a “cold bath” for about 20 minutes. In a normal sauna, the temperature is usually within 80 ~ 100 ℃. We recommend using a low-temperature sauna such as “Steam Sauna” or sitting in the lower part of the sauna room.
If you want to diet
“Repeat bath” is recommended for dieting purposes.
Enter the sauna at 90-100 ° C for about 10-15 minutes and sweat well. Then go out and cool down until you sweat. (* Do not take a water bath)
Then, if you sweat, you can enter the sauna again and repeat it 4-5 times, gradually shortening the time to enter.
However, just because you entered the sauna this way does not mean you can lose weight directly. As a result, the body is less fat, and as a result, a diet effect can be expected. Also, the point is to continue, not once or twice.
If you want to heal fatigue
If you want to heal your tiredness, the recommended method is a hot and cold bath.
This is a commonly known way to enter a sauna. This is a method of repeating a bath several times after entering the sauna for about 10 minutes.
When you do it, your blood flow is promoted, and the action promotes the discharge of fatigue substances (lactic acid), and it has the effect of healing stiff shoulders and back pain.
Source : https://xn--zck5b0gb9679erp1b.jp/sauna-koukateki-297
Summary
As we mentioned at the beginning, by knowing manners at a public bath, you can know common sense in Japan. This is the minimum promise that everyone in the place can spend comfortably. We introduced a lot, but you never have to be nervous. It is more important to actually experience than to learn. Please try Japanese “sento”!
