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| Public baths originated from a communal need for cleanliness.The earliest public baths are found in the ruins in of the Indus Valley Civilization IN iNDIA.
The "Great Bath of Mohenjo Daro" was the size of 'a modest municipal swimming pool', complete with stairs leading down to the water at each one of its ends. |
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The history of public baths begins in Greece in the sixth century B.C.," where men and women washed in basins near places of exercise, physical and intellectual. Later gymnasia had indoor basins set overhead, the open maws of marble lions offering showers, and circular pools with tiers of steps for lounging. Bathing was ritualized, becoming an art of cleansing sands, hot water, hot air in dark vaulted "vapor baths," a cooling plunge, a rubdown with aromatic oils. Cities all over Ancient Greece honored sites where "young ephebes stood and splashed water over their bodies." |
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The origin of Japanese bathing is Misogi. After Japan imported Buddhist culture, many temples had saunas, which were available for anyone to use for free.
In the Heian period, houses of prominent families, such as the families of court nobles or samurai, had baths. The bath had lost its religious significance and instead became leisure. Misogi became Gyozui, to pour water over one's head to clean his body.
In the Edo Period, saunas and Gyozui were mixed, and bathing was born. Many bathed once a month, but some bathed more than twice a day. Before the mid-1800s, when Western influence increased, nude communal bathing for men, women, and children at the local unisex public bath, or sento, was a daily fact of life.
In contemporary times, many administrative regions require public baths to have separate facilities for males and females. Public baths using water from onsen (hot springs) are particularly popular. Towns with hot springs are destination resorts, which are visited daily by the locals and people from other, neighboring towns. All information regarding bathouses taken from Wikipedia. |
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