Chapter 2

BATHING PLEASURES

Bathing once, the visitor was made fair of face and figure; bathing twice, all diseases were healed; its effectiveness has been obvious since of old.

Izumo Regional Chronicles, a.d. 7331

In the same manner that you wash your hands before dinner, the geisha and courtesan washed their bodies before going to a banquet or to bed for an evening of sexual pleasure. In Japan, the bath remains a way of life. Ninety percent of Japanese take a bath at least every other day.2 Bathing promotes good circulation, helps cure insomnia, reduces stress, and strengthens and improves your skin. But more than that, the simple, sensual pleasure of bathing can connect your physical, emotional, and psychological well-being to revitalize your spirit and your body for sex.

HISTORY OF THE BATH

Almost all Japanese institutions come from China, but the concept of cleanliness is original with Japan, where bathing has always been both a physical and spiritual cleansing. As part of her daily ritual, the geisha went to a shrine to pray. There, she rinsed her mouth and hands at a fountain placed there for this purpose, according to the Shinto belief that personal dirt is disrespectful to the gods. Priestesses in ancient times took this belief one step farther. When they ventured on religious journeys to the sacred Inner Ise Shrine, they took part in the purification rites of yuami and misogi. 3 They also bathed nude in an icy cold stream or under a waterfall before entering the shrine,4 refreshed and purified, their senses alive with an invigorating excitement. At the end of hadaka matsuri, “naked festivals,”you are washed of your impurities in a river, lake, or the sea. These festivals also revere the showing of sacred objects. Isn’t showing your body to your lover also a spiritual and stimulating experience?

.......................................................
A basin and ladle are used to cleanse the hands
and mouth before important ceremonies

The Japanese have known about bathing pleasures for centuries and make ofuro, the “honorable bath,” an integral part of their lives. Sento, community bathhouses, existed in the cities of Kyoto and Kamakura even in ancient times. In the early Edo period they prospered, employing young women called yuna who enticed customers with the lure of sake and a hot bath, where they assisted men in and out of their clothes and in combing and doing up their hair in the chonmage, top knot, that was the custom. It wasn’t long before these bathhouse girls began doing more than running their fingers through a man’s hair and offered “special services” in the steamy rooms. These establishments were often disguised brothels since the yuna were less expensive than prostitutes. In inns, hasuha-onna,“lotus leaf women,” and ashisasuri-onna, “legstrokers,”5 who attended to travelers, were known for not being deeply committed to chaste conduct.6 Ordinary women in the towns had their own lively and sensual interludes in bathhouses in their “floating world bath,” often bathing next to geisha, who took public transportation to the bathhouses in Tokyo.7

While the sexes often bathed separately, mixed bathing also existed in both cities and countryside until a law passed in 1900 prohibited such mingling. But, except in the large cities, the public didn’t pay much attention. In the country and at onsen, hot spring resorts, the sexes continued to bathe together. This notion of bathing au naturel is most likely the source of the phrase used to refer to the closest friends: hadaka no tsukiai,“naked acquaintances.”8

While it is true many Japanese “do not see” bath time nudity, they are discreet in using the towel, not only as a washcloth but also as a fig leaf. This “nude togetherness” often startles foreigners, but as J. R. Brinkley, historian and editor of the Yokohama newspaper Japan Mail remarked many years ago, “The nude in Japan is to be seen but not to be looked at.”9 Nevertheless, back in the late nineteenth century when ladies wore bustles, Western women in Japan entered hot spring baths clad in dressing gowns or cotton kimono to avoid the embarrassing act of “exposing their bodies to curious eyes.” This led to the misconception that Europeans had tails, since the Japanese interpreted the bustle as an apparatus solely for the purpose of enclosing the woman’s tail, coiled-down when not in use.10

The stones of the entrance to a ryokan, traditional Japanese-style inn, are ritually washed as an act of purification and also as a sign of welcome. You are purifying yourself when you wash your body as you prepare to welcome your man. It all begins with your bathroom.

BATHTUBS

The ideal Japanese bathroom is not the cold, metallic, tiled place common to inns and public baths. Instead, it is an extension of the bath itself. Everything possible is made of that warm, comforting, restful substance, wood. And this means tubs. Most Japanese prefer tubs of hinoki, cypress. When warm, it gives off a delightful pine-like scent. The traditional tub also can be hand crafted from chestnut, Chinese black pine, or cryptomeria. Japanese tubs are shorter, but deeper than what you are used to, and often have a built-in seat, made for a deep, soothing soak. Three broad planks make a lid to keep it hot until ready.

Ocean-scented Seaweed Bath

To revitalize your skin, combat stress and fatigue, boost your metabolism, and eliminate toxins, prepare a bath made of edible seaweeds: kombu, wakame, and funori. These edible seaweeds are loaded with protein, iodine, amino acids, and vitamins and are available in leaf form or in more convenient prepared packets. Sprinkle powdered seaweed directly into bath water heated to 100–107 degrees Fahrenheit, then soak for twenty minutes. After bathing, wrap yourself up in a thick, fluffy robe, then lie down under a silky quilt with your head and feet raised up slightly on soft pillows. Relax for twenty minutes, then shower and scrub your body to stimulate cell activity and circulation.a

Even an ordinary Western bathroom can be your place to be on your own. A bath should be your own special time to unwind, de-stress, and think your own pleasant, sexy thoughts. Turn your bathroom into a spa-like sanctuary. If a Japanese-style wooden tub does not appeal to you, another adventurous approach is the spoon-like sculpture tub fashioned in porcelain. Make your bath pure enchantment by adding Japanese touches to your bathing area such as yuzu (yellow citron), green moss, dewy gray rocks, a leafy potted plant, a scented candle or two, and your favorite relaxing music. Muted colors, soft natural light from your garden outside or lowered lights, along with water sounds and the whiff of subtle plum blossom or pine incense, all induce serenity. Before you get into the bath, pack a basket with a scrub soap or shower gel, bath oils, bubble bath, bath mineral salts, and body lotion. You are ready for bathing pleasures.

HOW TO TAKE A JAPANESE BATH

In Japan, you wash your body before you soak in the tub and relax. You sit on a low bamboo stool, or you can scrub in the shower. To begin, you need a small wooden bucket, a natural bristle back brush, a pumice stone for the rough spots on your elbows or knees, a small absorbent washcloth, a scented bar of soap, shampoo, and conditioner. Soap up, washing your underarms, feet, and genital areas, scrubbing your elbows, knees, the soles of your feet, and your back. Rinse thoroughly with water ladled out from the tub, or in the shower. Your body is clean. A tenugui, a linen cloth about the size of a small guest towel, traditionally serves for both washing and later, drying, but fluffy Western-style terrycloth towels also are a delight. After you wash your body, you climb into the tub and wash your soul.

.......................................................
A traditional Japanese “hot tub” is made
of cypress and is designed for soaking

Bath water is for soaking and relaxing, and is very hot. Varying anywhere from 95 to 140 degrees with an average of 107.6 degrees Fahrenheit, the water seems much too hot at first. Add bath salts to help prevent dizziness and the extreme fatigue sometimes caused by hot-water bathing, and also for a refreshing or soothing fragrance. Prior to immersing, douse your body and head repeatedly with water from the bath or rinse in the shower, until you feel warm all over. five to ten minutes will enable you to adjust to the heat more easily. Then get into the bath. Let yourself slide down by sections— legs, waist, and breasts. Sink slowly up to your chin. Move as little as possible when you first of get in, or you will feel the heat more. If you remain still, you can stand high temperatures. Soak until your pores open and the sweat starts rolling down your face and body.

Sake Bath

Fill your bathtub with hot water, then add one to two quarts of sake. Soak in the sakeburo, “sake bath,” for at least thirty minutes to smooth and soften your skin. This is an antitoxin bath that goes back at least three thousand years. It has been suggested the ladies of the Heian court enjoyed it for its enhancement of beauty.b

This is your time to relax. Thinking about your problems defeats the goal of releasing your stress and fatigue. Use this time for meditation, although meditation in the bath takes practice. Empty your mind of worldly distractions. Lean back; let a drop of water fall, and watch as it creates circles on the surface. Close your eyes and focus on a word or phrase, like mu. Mu means “non-existence.” For now, nothing exists except you and the bath. Breathe slowly, deeply, as you repeat mu.

After soaking in the tub, step out on the tiles. Don’t stand up suddenly when you emerge from a hot bath: Dizziness and fainting are common dangers. Douse your head in cold water. Then either do as the Japanese do and remove excess water with your damp tenugui, or dry your body with a fluffy towel.

AFTER YOUR BATH

Slip into a loose-fitting cotton kimono, called a yukata, and lie down, wrapped snugly in a blanket for the same amount of time you spent soaking in the tub. This will allow for maximum benefits from your hot bath. Your rest period can be followed by a warm-water scrub, a cool shower, and the application of oil or emollient all over your body. Think sexy thoughts while applying oil to the erogenous zones of your body and you will be surprised how good it feels.

BODY SCRUB AND SEAWEED PACKS

As you sweat in the tub or in the sauna, a wide range of toxins stored in your body fat and blood are excreted through your pores. Detox baths with baking soda, Epsom salts, or sea salt can also help eliminate toxins from your body. Soak for fifteen to twenty minutes, then scrub your skin gently with a soap brush made from a natural fiber, such as a boar-bristle, dry brush, or a loofah mitt. Salt rub treatment makes you glisten like the sparkle on a geisha’s silver hairpin. Try dry skin brushing, an old natural healing method used by geisha, to increase blood and lymphatic circulation. Brush your whole body once a day with a natural-bristle dry skin brush found at health food stores. Use short, brisk strokes, always brushing toward your heart for maximum benefit.

.......................................................
A loofah mitt, brush, and seaweed
can be used for a detox bath

The seaweed body pack is a regenerating, revitalizing, and cell-activating treatment that brings extraordinary sparkle and tone to your skin. Use wakame seaweed. Fresh wakame should be soaked briefly in warm water, then rinsed to remove the salt. Dried wakame must be soaked for twenty minutes for softening. After thoroughly scrubbing and cleansing, apply the seaweed strips all over, or on those areas where you would like to appear especially sexy. Then recline for thirty minutes. Remove the seaweed, rinse off with cool water.

Ginger compresses (consisting of a topical application of fresh, hot ginger water) dispel cold, stimulate circulation, and assist your body in the breakdown of fat deposits.

SPAS

Shinto, one of the two main religions of Japan, has always attached the highest importance to ritual purity—and this includes the bath. Buddhism, the other religion, regards the body as nothing but an illusory outer covering and not to be noticed. Combine the two and you have . . . nude group bathing. Where else is nude group bathing more appealing than in the numerous onsen resorts?

Picture a beautiful pool of clear, hot mineral water lined in dark gray rocks and surrounded by volcanic vents that spew up jets of pungent, sulfur-laden steam wafting and billowing from the water. The scent permeates an onsen town. The Japanese believe mountain water is therapeutic for your spirit. For centuries it has called both geisha and samurai to speed the healing process, whether it was a broken heart or broken bones. A hot bath at a ryokan often uses hot spring water fresh from the mountain. Treat yourself to a sybarite’s delight by visiting one of these retreats. There you will learn what you can do to rediscover the natural rhythms of your body through rest, healthy diet, sunlight, and fresh air.

.......................................................
This steaming symbol on maps and signs
indicates the presence of a relaxing hot springs

Although in most ryokan each room has its own small bath, large separate-sex and communal baths offer once-in-a-life-time experiences. The bathing area may be constructed from stone or wood, and many bath choices are often available for your pleasure: hot or cold, milk or lemon. A traditional sulfur bath will leave your skin feeling like silk. An outdoor bath, called a rotenburo, is located in a scenic spot. You take your tenugui, go to the bathhouse, and leave your clothes in a wicker basket. Don’t be surprised if everyone is naked. Sharing the enjoy-ment of beautiful mountain or forest scenery while soaking in a steaming bath is uniquely refreshing, especially with that special someone.

.......................................................
Outdoor baths in a scenic location are
perfect spots for romance and relaxation

If a trip to an onsen is just a dream, you can set up your own retreat in your home. Portable spas can provide therapeutic benefits in the privacy of your backyard. The massaging action is created by sending a combination of warm water and air through jet nozzles, resulting in an “energized” stream of water that loosens knots of tension in your body. It relaxes your tired and aching muscles, eases arthritis pain, induces restful sleep, and increases mental relaxation and acuity. Many modern Jacuzzi have a unique bowed design with contoured armrests and a sloped backrest that fits into the style of any bathroom. Soaking in hot water laced with soothing fragrant bath salts, surrounded by lovely flowering trees and shrubs, you can have your own rotenburo. Do as the geisha did in the sento. Hum a tune as you scrub, soak, scrub, then soak again. You take on the glow of an added sensuality as you submerge in the hot water, your breasts glistening, your tummy flatter, your hips sleek and trim. When you emerge, body and spirit are cleansed; your troubles and fatigue— and old relationships—are rinsed away with the dirt.

Geisha folklore suggests that water offers health and preserves youth and, according to ancient beliefs, some hot springs seem to have special healing and rejuvenating powers. One is the wakasai, “well of youth,” at Nara, where in the coldest days of winter the priests of Todaiji gather to draw water in a ritual called omizutori. You can enjoy this same ritual by installing little fountains of water in your home and office and experience firsthand the soft, inner rhythm of water that has given the Japanese culture its ability to let go and to flow.

BATH SCENTS

One of the most important items in bathing Japanese style is the addition of flowers and scents. Your bath may contain flowers (iris, rose, chrysanthemum), leaves (daikon, carrot, cherry, peach), fruits (citron, tangerine, orange), roots (lotus, ginger, iris), or rice products (sake, rice bran).

Bath Scents Tips

.......................................................
Flowers, citrus, and rice bran can
all be added to scent the bath

Yellow Chrysanthemum Bath

You will need edible yellow chrysanthemums. float the flowers in your hot bath. Soak, but do not rinse. It is probable that the courtesans of Yoshiwara indulged in this warming, youth-giving bath to keep the ravages of age at bay.c

Citron Bath

This enchanting bath gives off a delightful, feminine fragrance. Use dried citron peels or whole fresh fruit (lemons can be substituted). A variation on this bath is the citrus bath to improve circulation and ward off colds. Slice any kind of citrus—limes, lemons, oranges, or grapefruit—and float them in your hot bath water. If you like, you can substitute dried peels for fruit. You can also use tangerine or mandarin orange peels or whole fresh fruit for an aromatic and spirit-soothing bath that perfumes your skin. Break dry peels into small bits then tie them into a piece of gauze, and fasten it with a cord. Place the bag, or four or five whole tangerines if you prefer, in a hot bath, then soak.

Rose Petals Bath

Use ten roses, plucking the petals (after they have been sitting in a vase for a few days), and scatter them on the surface. Almost immediately, moist, perfumed air rises from the water, giving you a relaxing bath. Keep the water temperature a bit lower than usual to preserve the rich rose color. You can also put rose petals in a diaphanous cloth bag before adding them to your bathwater to save time cleaning the tub.

Taking a Bath Tips

What About the Toilet in Your Bathroom?

Toilets have come a long way. No longer just functional necessities, they can be a part of your relaxing, cleansing routine. Modern toilets offer new luxury and comfort with gentle aerated warm water, self-cleaning dual-action spray, a quiet, soft-closing seat, and a heated seat with temperature control. They are easy to install and offer you the ultimate in cleanliness, including dual action front and rear washing. They also offer massage with back and forth water cleansing, a dryer with three temperatures, a deodorizer to remove unwanted odors, as well as remote control.

In Japan, no bathhouse is complete without a sansuke, masseur, to scrub your back and massage your tired limbs. Next, you will explore how massage can help you become more seductive.

MASSAGE

Massage, the use of touch and various manipulation techniques to move your muscles and soft body tissues to relieve stress, tension, and pain, is a therapy going back four to five thousand years. One of the earliest books on Chinese medicine, The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine, written in 2700 b.c., lists massage as a treatment for paralysis, chills, and fever. More than likely, the Japanese used this chronicle to perfect their own unique type of massage: shiatsu. Shiatsu is a popular acupressure technique that focuses on “rebalancing energy.” The therapist’s fingers apply strong, rhythmic pressure along points on your body, including your arms and legs, to reduce tension from stress. In macrobiotic shiatsu, the meridians on your body are massaged by the thumb, hand, elbow, or foot pressure of the masseur, giving you the resulting benefit of regulating and balancing the capacity of your organ systems. Shiatsu massage can also be sexually arousing if you—or he—hit the right spots.

.......................................................
After your bath, a massage can be
sensually and sexually arousing

Although massage therapy does not cure disease, it does promote a sense of contentment and relaxation. When your muscles are overworked or strained, whether from exercise or from trying out new sex positions, waste products accumulate and cause unpleasant spasms. Massage helps by improving your circulation, bringing more oxygen to those areas through increased blood flow. This accelerates the elimination of waste products from your body, promoting healing—and your sexual well being. Massage reduces your heart rate and lowers your blood pressure. It increases the release of endorphins in your body, the same feel-good chemicals as from an orgasm. Massage is also credited with reducing pain and depression and helping to improve the overall quality of your life. Often, all it takes is a simple touch to lessen the stress and anxiety of a long day. A good massage can leave you refreshed and energized and ready for sex.

Soothing Bath Tea

Try this lemon lavender tea. You will need one-half cup lemon balm, one-half cup lavender, and boiling water in a quart container. Steep ten to twenty minutes, then add to your bath water. Add a few drops of essential oil of lavender, diluted in a quarter cup of neutral oil (such as almond, sunflower, or walnut), to your bath water for an extra relaxing plus.

Massage Tips

A FINAL NOTE ON BATHING . . .

A luxuriating hot bath is not pampering, but a valued and essential part of your sexual life. Do as the Japanese do: Relax and take your time. It is considered bad taste to hurry while bathing. While you are in the bath, don’t forget to meditate about him. In the next chapter, you will learn the technique of erotic meditation.