Onsen
Onsen (温泉) is the Japanese name for a hot spring; the term also extends to cover the bathing facilities and traditional inns frequently situated around a hot spring. As a volcanically active country, Japan has thousands of onsens scattered throughout all of its major islands.
Onsens come in many types and shapes, including outdoor (露天風呂 or 野天風呂, roten-buro or noten-buro) and indoor baths (内湯, uchiyu). Baths may be either publicly run by a municipality or privately, often as part of a hotel, ryokan, or bed and breakfast (民宿, minshuku).
The presence of an onsen is often indicated on signs and maps by the symbol ♨ or the kanji 湯 (yu, meaning "hot water"). Sometimes the simpler hiragana character ゆ (yu), understandable to younger children, is used.
See also [ Onsen etiquette ]
Traditionally, onsens were located outdoors, although many inns have now built indoor bathing facilities as well. Nowadays, as most households have their own bath, the number of traditional public baths has decreased,[2] but the number of sightseeing hot spring towns has increased (most notable ones including Kinosaki Onsen, Togura Kamiyamada Onsen [ja], and Akanko Onsen [ja]). Onsens by definition use naturally hot water from geothermally heated springs.
Definition
According to Hot Springs Act (温泉法, Onsen Hō), onsen is defined as 'hot water, mineral water, and water vapor or other gas (excluding natural gas of which principal component is hydrocarbon) gushing from underground' and its temperature is more than 25 °C or contains specific substance with specific concentration. Therefore, cold onsens do exist.
Mixed bathing
Traditionally, men and women bathed together at both onsens and sentōs, but gender separation has been enforced since the opening of Japan to the West during the Meiji Restoration. The practice had contributed at the time to Western ideas of the Japanese as an inferior race. Mixed bathing (混浴, kon'yoku) persists at some special onsen in rural areas of Japan, which usually also provide the option of separate "women-only" baths or different hours for the two sexes. Men may cover their genitals with a small towel while out of the water, while women usually wrap their bodies in full-size towels. Children of either sex may be seen in both the men's and the women's baths. In some prefectures of Japan, including Tokyo, where nude mixed bathing is banned, people are required to wear swimsuits or yugi (湯着, yugi), or yuami-gi, which are specifically designed for bathing.
- More information is available at [ Wikipedia:List of hot springs in Japan ]
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