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US Photographer Explores Japanese Hot Springs

   Mike O'Sullivan | Los Angeles 31 December 2009
   One  of  Mark Edward Harris' photographs from 'The Way of the Japanese
   Bath'

Photo: Mark Edward Harris

   One  of  Mark Edward Harris' photographs from 'The Way of the Japanese
   Bath'

   American  photographer Mark Edward Harris has traveled to 80 countries
   to  document their sights and their people.  The photographer's latest
   book,  called The Way of the Japanese Bath, explores Japan's rural hot
   springs  and urban bath-houses, which the author says cleanse both the
   body and the soul.
   In  his earlier books, Harris offered glimpses into Iran, North Korea,
   and  other countries.  This book on Japanese baths, which is an update
   and  expansion  of an earlier edition, takes readers to quiet mountain
   hot  springs and public bath-houses.  In Japan, as in some other parts
   of  Asia,  the bath is a communal place where people socialize, and at
   rural resorts, they get in touch with nature.
   Harris  knows Japan through his wife, who is Japanese, and with her he
   has  visited  some  of  the  country's best baths and hot springs.  To
   document the visits, he took his camera.
   He  says  he felt awkward at first, but he speaks Japanese and, in the
   steamy setting, could easily break the ice with the other bathers.
   "Everyone  was  a  little bit quiet, but then in Japanese, I would say
   I'm  doing  a book on hot springs," said Mark Edward Harris. "Is it OK
   if I take some pictures?"
   He  says  many  people,  partly  submerged  in the water or discreetly
   posed, were willing to being photographed.
   Some  traditional  baths still offer mixed bathing, with men and women
   soaking  in  the  mineral  springs  together.   Their behavior, Harris
   points  out,  is always respectful.  Today, most hot springs and baths
   have separate sections for each gender, where they relax and socialize
   and sometimes drink rice wine, or sake, while they bathe.
   In  mountain resorts, the bathers have stunning views.  Some spas have
   huge  picture  windows and others are outdoors, where people enjoy the
   natural setting among the towering pine trees.
   "I think when you do it in winter up in the mountains, where it's just
   ice  cold  outside and then you experience this very warm water, which
   is  about 38 degrees Celsius, it really is for spiritual cleansing and
   also relaxation," he said.
   Public baths in big cities like Tokyo are busy social centers.  Harris
   says that each bath, whether in city or countryside, is distinctive.
   "Sometimes  the  water is pumped up into and flows into old sake [rice
   wine]  barrels," said Harris. "Sometimes it's overlooking the ocean so
   you can be in the water for sunset."
   The  waters  of  some  geothermal springs are believed to have healing
   powers,  and those with high concentrations of sodium, sulfur or other
   elements are thought to be good for certain ailments.  Harris says the
   waters  of  one  resort, Kusatsu, northwest of Tokyo, are said to cure
   nearly any ailment.
   "Kusatsu, they say the water can cure anything but love," he said.
   In  Jigokudani  in central Japan, Harris says that even the local snow
   monkeys enjoy the open-air bathing.
   "Oh, they love bathing," said Mark Edward Harris. "Well, it's so cold,
   I don't blame them, you know, in the middle of the winter."
   Bathing in most places is a solitary affair, but the photographer says
   the baths of Japan are place to relax, enjoy congenial company and get
   in touch with nature, often in a gorgeous natural setting.

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