The Art of Bathing: Onsen at Kinosaki (by Kara & Mary)

The walk to the onsen

What we wore in Kinosaki

Ready to hit the streets and onsen

We think Mark looks a lot like Kinosaki's mascot

The best way to cool down

Showers and baths at home are pretty unceremonious. Bathing is done regularly, privately and (at least for us) pretty much on autopilot. We don't think about it much. And we certainly haven't invited friends and family to partake it in with us.

Kinosaki, a beautiful town in the northern coast, is an epicenter for practicing the art of bathing. It’s a town of hot springs where people wear yukata (formal robes that, for women, look a little like informal kimono) and geta (wooden sandals) in the streets as they move from onsen to onsen. (Onsen is a hot bath--hotter than any hot tub we've ever been in.) And bathing is a social event that’s central to good health and longevity. It’s done together. So, when in Kinosaki…

We arrived at our ryokan, another beautiful space that gave us access to seven of the public onsen in town, plus the private ones onsite.  Our host asked Maura and me to select yukata that we would wear during our stay (except for sleeping). Mark and Kara were provided with theirs. It was fun to look at the colors and patterns, and we selected ours under our host’s watchful eye.

There was only one problem. Now that we had them, we had absolutely no clue how to put them on—a fact that became painfully obvious later on.

Yukata-ing Up

There’s a precise way to wear yukata, and getting it wrong has implications. (For example, if you pull the right side over the left side instead of vice-versa, that’s dress for a funeral. Bad karma, people. Bad karma.) We found instructions, followed them as closely as we could, and were ready to hit the streets. Until we weren’t.

A staff member stopped by our room, made a clicking sound with her tongue, and set to work correcting our yukata mistakes. We were unwound and rewound into our garb, watching carefully because we would have to repeat her actions after each bathing experience. To be honest, it stressed me out a little bit.

We put on our geta, which was a new experience for us. They’re basically wooden platform flip-flops that have a groove cut out in the sole. These shoes force you to walk slowly, especially on the stone streets, unless you want to make a lot of noise or risk spraining an ankle—not on our agenda for the night. We arrived at the first onsen without incident.

What You Do at Onsen (by Kara)

At an onsen, you:

• Get undressed and put your things in a locker or basket.
• Enter the washing area, where you sit on a plastic stool, run water in a bucket and use a washcloth to wash your body. You also wash your hair.
• Rinse off until there are no more bubbles and rinse off the stool.
• Get into a bath that's bigger than a hot tub. You are in the bath with other people (girls and women). Some onsen are inside and some are outside. (I like the one that was outside--we sat in the water on rocks watching a waterfall.)
• You don't bring in a towel, but you can put your washcloth on your head to help you stay cool. Don't put the washcloth in the water!
• Stay in for as long as you want--usually between 5 and 10 minutes. It's hot!
• When you are done, go back to the locker room and change back into your clothes. 

Togetherness (by Mary)

We went to two onsen that evening—one before dinner and one after.  After getting out of the first onsen, we needed to get dressed again in yukata. Several older women (in various states of dress) rushed over to help us, showing us how to do this. Tradition is important here, and there’s pride in doing things correctly. I think they didn’t want us to be shamed by not being properly dressed. Women all over the world, at that very moment, were taking part in similar actions to provide guidance and assistance to their daughters, sisters, aunts, nieces, and perfect strangers as part of a larger sisterhood. That’s just what we do.

The second onsen was my favorite. We were getting the hang of this bathing thing and having some fun with it. The women were incredibly social, and there were lots of toddlers and girls running around the dressing room, too. Honestly, it felt like a girls night out minus the cocktails. Women talked and laughed in groups together, and it was no big deal that we were all as naked as the day we were born. (Mark’s experience was a little different—as you might expect, it was a bit more subdued and he said he could hear the laughter of the women through the walls.)

For obvious reasons, we don’t have photos of the onsen we visited. We do have recommendations, however, if you want to travel to Kinosaki to experience this for yourself.