Chapter 1: Hot springs as tojiba (places for recuperation)

Hot spring resorts are often thought of as tourist sites today, but were originally places for toji, treatment and recuperation through bathing in hot springs. The length of time and bathing methods for toji were generally fixed, though they were slightly different depending on the era or the spa. For example, in the medieval period it was already common to count seven days as a round and for toji to be done for at least three rounds (21 days).
Hot springs as tojiba are so old that they appear in ancient history books and topographies and hot spring culture in its various forms blossomed through the medieval and early-modern periods.

Emperors' visits to hot springs and ancient scenery of hot springs

Use of hot springs in Japan started about 1,300 years ago on record. Hot springs used to be called “湯 (yu)” or “温湯 (yu).”
Descriptions of hot springs often appear in Fudoki, ancient reports on provincial geography and climate. For example, according to surviving fragments of Iyonokuni fudoki, Prince Shotoku visited Iyo no yu (today, Dogo Onsen) and built a monument in 596. The fragments are passed down by citations such as in Shakunihongi (Kokushi taikei, vol.7. [210.08-Ko548-Kk]) and Manyoshu chushaku [特1-950] published later.
In addition, Fudoki show us local hot springs and people gathering there. According to Izumonokuni fudoki [862-37], the riverside Ideyu, now Tamatsukuri Onsen, was described as “a divine spring” that was effective against any disease, and all the local residents used it. Maybe it was rather by its reputation than by its real effectiveness that people made much of it.
Nihonshoki [839-1], which was compiled as the first official history book in Japan, has several articles that emperors and other members of the imperial family visited Iyo no yu or Ki no yu (now Shirahama Onsen) especially in the early to mid-7th century. By the fact that the Emperors' visits to hot springs were longer than ordinary ones, the purpose is considered to be for toji.

Toji spreading to court nobles, priests, and the samurai class

The practice of toji gradually spread to various classes of society; the court nobles, priests, and samurai.
Sei Shonagon, a poet of the Heian period, wrote in Makura no soshi (The pillow book) (Sei Shonagon [857-176]), “Among hot springs, Nanakuri, Arima, and Tamatsukuri are the best,” praising 3 hot springs . Though there are various hypotheses, it is mainly thought that they are what are known as Sakakibara Onsen, Arima Onsen, and Tamatsukuri Onsen today. It is not certain if she visited these hot springs herself, but we can catch a glimpse of her interest in toji.

As the Zen sect spread in Japan, Zen priests traveling around various places began practicing toji. They recorded the situation at that time, as, for example, in Kuge nichiyo kufu ryakushu [762-48] written by Gido Shushin. They sometimes walked around various sightseeing places near hot springs and held events such as a poetry party during toji. Because they sometimes interacted with court nobles also doing toji, hot springs functioned as social gathering places, too.
Records of toji by Zen priests also show that in the Muromachi period people began to understand the nature and effects of hot springs, as well as appropriate ways of practicing toji, based on empirical evidence. For example, Onsenkoki (Gozanbungaku Shinshu, vol.5. [919.4-Ta651g2]), written by Rinzai priest Zuikei Shuho (1391-1473), testifies that Toji Yojo Hyomoku, a handbook of toji, had already been published in Arima Onsen. It would be the pioneer of Yubumi, handbooks widely published in various hot springs in the early-modern times.

In the age of civil wars, warlords are said to have set up hot springs in their territories to use for treatment of their wounded soldiers. TAKEDA Shingen, a famous warlord in Kai (present-day Yamanashi Prefecture), ordered the construction of Kawaura Onsen in 1561 (Kaikokushi edited by MATSUDAIRA Sadamasa [141-120]). Hot springs prepared by him are called “Shingen’s secret hot springs” today.

Popularization and rise in the academic world

In the early-modern times, hot springs spread to ordinary people in urban areas. While some people went for toji to treat their illnesses, more and more people went there for a change of pace or sightseeing. From the middle of the Edo period, the flourishing publication of guidebooks and pictures of hot springs (see Part 3) promoted them.
In Hakone, near the highway and easily accessible, the “Shichi-yu round tour” became popular. “Shichi-yu” refers to seven hot springs in the mountains in Hakone: Yumoto, Tonosawa, Dogashima, Miyanoshita, Sokokura, Kiga, and Ashinoyu. All of them are near each other and suitable for going to all at once.

In the latter half of the Edo period, more and more people made brief stays at hot springs, including groups of pilgrims who stopped by on the way to Ise Jingu Shrine. Because “one-night toji” was functionally permitted in 1805, the premise that toji should be a long stay was changing (Hakone shichito: History and Culture by IWASAKI Sojun [GC78-95]).
In addition, shows and souvenir shops for visitors to toji were already appearing. In Atami, where a geyser called O-yu was famous as Santo Kyozan described it as “the best hot spring in Japan” in his book Atami onsen zui (Santo Kyozan Denkishosetsu Shu [KG241-H3]), fishing shows were held and souvenirs, such as woodworks, sold there. It could be said that this period was when hot springs were becoming more commercial.

Besides economic development, what was remarkable about this period was that scholars and doctors started studying hot springs scientifically. Some of them began dealing with hot springs in general, not a particular one as Yubumi did. Among them, KAIBARA Ekiken (1630-1714), an authority on herbalism, explained how to take a bath properly in his book Yojokun [SC194-19].
An epoch-making event was the publication of the sequel to Ippondo Yakusen [特1-833] by KAGAWA Shutoku, a doctor in the middle of the Edo period. He studied toji, succeeding his teacher GOTO Konzan (1659-1733). He dealt with the nature of and merits and demerits of hot springs, and evaluated ones with high temperature especially highly. Because he cited the names of specific hot springs in the book, it had a great impact but was fiercely criticized and objected to by succeeding scholars. HARA Sokei (1718-1767) contradicted Shutoku in Onsen Shogen [120-82], and TSUGE Ryushu tried to reverse Shutoku’s evaluation of each hot spring in Onsen ron [189-159]. As a whole, hot springs rose as a hot subject of study.

Afterwards, Dutch studies were introduced to Japan and the knowledge and perspective of Western science began to be used to analyze hot springs. The publication of Seimikaiso [特1-855], which was a translation from a Dutch chemistry book by a doctor, UDAGAWA Yoan (1798-1846), who was familiar with chemistry, was the turning point. He classified hot springs as mineral springs, which are rich in compounds.

From toji to recreation and sightseeing

In the Meiji period, hot springs were put under the control of the government. At first, the Meiji government tried to ratify effects of toji by analyzing the composition of hot springs. However, this direction gradually shifted to maintaining and improving the sanitary conditions of hot springs and utilizing them as health resorts.
A doctor from Germany, Erwin von Bälz (1849-1913), who was hired by the government as a foreign advisor in 1876, focused on the effects of toji, while he tried hard to develop public health administration. He appreciated the traditional characteristics of hot springs and bathing methods, and emphasized “what kind of environment hot springs should be.” In his work Nihon Kosen Ron [25-530], he suggested having medical specialists and committees in each hot spring to improve their environments. His thoughts were also followed up on in Nihon kosen shi [453.9-N249n], edited by the Hygienic Bureau of the Ministry of Home Affairs. It was, however, not put into practice as he had hoped due to budgetary constraints. He also planned to construct his ideal health resort in Kusatsu Onsen, but it did not happen because of objections by locals and his return to his home country.
With improvements to traffic networks and the development of the mass media, people came to prioritize convenience and enjoyment at hot spring resorts more than the hot springs themself. In response, hot spring resorts emphasized their roles as health resorts or sightseeing sites more and more. They used to exist primarily as places for toji, but many of them changed their main purpose to recreation and sightseeing.

Column: Kumiyu—toji at home

Since the medieval period, some people did toji at home or at their second house, having someone carry hot spring water. This way to use of hot springs called “kumiyu” needs many hands, of course, therefore it was originally available only to people in the upper classes, such as important people in imperial courts or shogunates.
A court noble of the Kamakura period, FUJIWARA no Teika (1162-1241), who is famous as a poet, described in Meigetsuki (Settsu chosho, vol.68 [子-11]) that his brother-in-law SAIONJI Kintsune, who served as a Dajo daijin (Grand Minister), had people carry 200 pails of hot spring water of Arima to his home for kumiyu every day. In the Muromachi period, Kanmon nikki [貴箱-14] also shows clearly that Fushiminomiya Sadafusa shinno (Prince Fushiminomiya Sadafusa) did a round (7 days) of toji using hot spring water carried from Yunoyama (Arima Onsen) in December 1437, and in the next February he did toji again using the leftover water.
In the Edo period, kumiyu from various hot springs was sometimes done as an offering to the shogun, and officials directed carrying water to the Edo castle. According to Atami onsen zui, hot spring water of Atami was barreled and circulated throughout the city of Edo in the Bunsei era (1818-1830). It was also bought by public bathhouses and citizens. This shows the spread of toji to ordinary people.

Next Chapter 2:
Hot springs in literary works