Sento Memorial Service at Adashino Nenbutsu-ji Temple

千灯供養

On the evenings of August 23 & 24 from 17:30 to 20:30, hundreds of lanterns will be lit around the roughly 8,000 stone monuments and statues in and around Adashino Nenbutsu Temple.

Long ago, this area was the site of a large graveyard - where corpses were often just dumped.

The ceremony is a prayer for the souls of the many dead.

It is peaceful and ethereal - but can be crowded.

If possible, get there early.

There is a fee of 1,000 yen.

Information

Access: Kyoto Bus #72, get off at Toriimoto

Sento Memorial Service at Adashino Nenbutsu-ji Temple
Telephone: 075 861 2221

For those cycling, parking is available outside the temple.


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Kyogoku Yu Public Bath Kyoto

自転車で京極湯へ

Here is a classic neighborhood public bath in north central Kyoto.

Kyogoku Yu is just east of Senbon Dori, and a few blocks south of Imadegawa.

It is old and it is a real local place.

Foreigners are not an object of fascination in Kyoto city anymore, and thus there is rarely any staring or calls of "Hello" (more like "Ha-ro, Ha-ro") from strangers.

However, both times I have been to this sento older men made a point of asking questions and making statements that betrayed complete lack of familiarity with anything beyond a few blocks of their home and their tv remote.

Still, the building is great and baths hot.

Here is a map.

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Walk Ten Kilometers to a Public Bath in Kyoto

１０キロ歩いて銭湯へ！　京都市が活性化企画印刷用画面を開く

Though scholars doubt its authenticity, one of several pithy quotes attributed to Mark Twain speaking of his ultimate demise is, "When the end of the world comes, I want to be in Cincinnati because it's always twenty years behind the times."

Though Kyoto is also known for its embrace of things modern and new, it is in some ways somewhat like that: a bit behind the times, clinging to things discarded in the rest of Japan.

While the neighborhood public bath (sento) is fading fast around the rest of urban Japan - replaced by Super Sento (modern, mega-baths with dining and other facilities) or nothing at all - Kyoto still has many local sentos sprinkled around the city.

However, Kyoto is not immune to trends that have hurt the sento industry: namely, that all private homes now have their own bath. In 1970, the city had 461 public baths. As of 2010, just 187 remained.

The city though is concerned about a decline in the number of baths, and is sponsoring an event to encourage sento use. The city has divided its 40+ km marathon course into four sections - each 10 km long - and is sponsoring walk-and-bathe days.

To help rectify the the decline, the city will sponsor four walks. The first will be from Nishi Kyogoku (close to where the local soccer club Sanga plays) and wind its way to Ninnaji Temple. At the starting point, participants will receive an entry ticket to a sento. After a three-hour walk, it's off to a public bath.

The fee to participate is 410 yen - the amount public baths charge - and applications are being accepted until November 7.

For information, call 075 222 3433.

Kyoto Sento Map

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Kyoto Public Bath

京都銭湯

What can you get for around 500 yen (about $5.30) these days?

4 cokes (220 ml/can, 480 yen)
4 cans of Kirin beer (220 ml/can, 480 yen)
Four packs of gum (480 yen)
A one-way trip to Osaka from Kyoto on JR (540 yen)
Postage enough for 4 letters to the US (50 mg or less/letter, 440 yen)
A trip to a public bath (410 yen)

The sento (public bath) is the least expensive of the above options, but you can keep the change. We don't drink coke, canned beer is for the hottest of summer days only, gum we can live without, and Osaka you can have. Except for Mom, letters are pretty old school (but so are we and confess to writing and buying 110 yen stamps often).

The public bath is old school as well, but ah what lurks behind those inviting curtains.

For less than $5, you can bathe and chat, wash and soak, rinse and scrub to your heart's delight. And then repeat.

A standard neighborhood sento will have several baths: cold, really hot, and herbal. Often there is a sauna as well.

The boiling hot bath gets you cleaner than you have been months. The changing room is good for neighborhood gossip, a massage on chairs for that purpose, or watching a ball game on the tv affixed to the ceiling.

However, the main goal - getting naked, and really clean, with a bunch of strangers - is itself worth the entrance fee.

Highly recommended.

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